Ecommerce

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February is the shortest month but it wasn’t short on fantastic digital marketing content! Check out our picks from around the Web.Errol Denger’s Reinventing Customer Engagement with Experience-Driven Commerce outlines a systematic methodology to establish a rapid and iterative approach to ecommerce innovation.In the Amazon Age, a strong value proposition is essential for any online business. Rich Page has 20 ways to improve your unique value proposition and lift online sales.Not only is this a blog post, but it includes a webinar replay filled with tips for using visitor intent…

This February, we posted some great content on a variety of topics — all of them relevant to those who sell digital goods online. On the topic of security, we showcased an infographic about how to protect your business from cyber threats, and posted an article on how to manage the risk presented by fraudsters who are trying to compromise your business. Additionally, we presented advice from the experts on how to deal with customers who routinely miss payments, and how to provide remarkable ecommerce experiences to help you win and retain customers. For this month’s Ecommerce Digest,…

Featured Resource: 0Resource Thumbnail: Resource Summary: Online-only retailers like Amazon don’t just want to expand into physical retail spaces, they need to. Find out how Amazon is using their new knowledge of the consumer demand for in-store experiences with a disruptive business decision. Years ago, RadioShack was the go-to place to pickup consumer electronics. Then came Amazon, which temporarily trumped the classic in-store experience with convenient and cheap online-only shopping. But now, with RadioShack in bankruptcy and a rising tide of omni-channel services, Amazon…

This week’s infographic looks at the top 10 challenges organizations face in capitalizing on Big Data, courtesy of Tata Consultancy Services.The Top 10 Big Data Challenges1. Cutural: Getting business units to share information across organizational silos2. Technological: Being able to handle the large volume, velocity and variety of Big Data3. Cultural: Determining what data, both structured and unstructured, and internal and external) to use for different business decisions4. Cultural: Building high levels of trust between the data scientists who present insights on Big Data and the…

Happy Friday, everyone. For the past two days, #TheDress has sparked an interesting and unexpected debate over whether it is gold and white or black and blue. It’s a question that has divided the internet and emphasizes the importance of using high-quality product imagery when selling items online. Of course, the virality of the issue makes for some comic social sharing, too: I’m loving @Bigcommerce‘s new Gold and White logo! #TheDress pic.twitter.com/ANnIso7tPV — Tim Schulz (@timschulz) February 27, 2015 Now to get into our roundup of this week’s top ecommerce news. See…

The observation that "80 percent of life is just showing up," generally attributed to comedian Woody Allen, has morphed into the admonition that "80 percent of success is just showing up." However, it appears that vendors who just show up with a generalized approach to marketing cloud technology to federal government agencies likely won't attract much business. As the market evolves, vendors will need to be responsive not only to various agency mission requirements, but also to the unique procurement practices of the federal government.

Google on Monday confirmed that it plans to launch a mobile virtual network operation, or MVNO, later this year. Google Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai, who heads up operations for Android and Chrome, commented on the undertaking in a Q&A following his keynote address at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Google in essence will provide the same service as a wireless carrier; however, it won't be competing with Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile or Sprint. Instead the new MVNO likely will entail partnerships with those carriers.

Ericsson last week filed patent claims against Apple both with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and the U.S. International Trade Commission. "Our suits filed yesterday assert 41 different patents," said Ericsson spokesperson Kathy Egan Wummer. "Of those, 14 are at issue in the ITC and the district court; the other 27 are at issue only in the district court." Eight of the patents are essential to 3GPP standards, and Ericsson has made fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory, or FRAND, commitments for them.

Configure, price, quote software was once a barely thought about branch of CRM, falling under the heading of sales enablement. But lately, it's been getting a lot of attention. Last month, Salesforce Ventures, Salesforce's corporate investment group, swung into action. It led a Series B round of funding that garnered US$41 million for Apttus, a high-flying CPQ vendor. Salesforce Ventures also participated in SteelBrick raising $18 million in a series B round. That's two CPQ vendors that Salesforce has taken an interest in. The question is, why?

If you dislike your insurance company, you are not alone: Worldwide, less than 30 percent of consumers have positive experiences in dealing with their insurers, according to Capgemini's World Insurance Report 2015. North America saw the largest decline in satisfaction -- 8.3 percentage points. Capgemini blamed the slide on a combination of demands for better service from Generation Y -- people 18-34 years of age -- and factors such as inadequate customer engagement and knowledge, big data, regulatory changes and economic uncertainty.

My second article on The Rouse, Choosing the Right Startup Business Partner, was published earlier this month. Please free free to let me know what you think of the article or to suggest topics for future columns. Happy New Year!

I recently became a monthly-contributor for The Rouse, an online business magazine for entrepreneurs and emerging businesses. My first article ("Is an Internet Contract Enforceable?") was published last month and my next article should be published sometime next week. If you have an article idea or topic you'd like me to cover, let me know.

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of appearing on Episode 280 of This Week in Law with host Denise Howell and fellow guests Lindsey Rogers Cook, a data report for US News & World Report, and Professor Greg Vetter, of the University of Houston Law Center. You can view the podcast below or download it from iTunes. One of the episode's "Resources of the Week" was my seven-part series on the essential elements of effective Terms of Use or Terms of Service. You can find more information about the topics we discussed here. It was great to be back on the show (I previously appeared on…

Today we’re excited to announce that selling in person just got a whole lot easier. Our point of sale app, Shopify POS, is now available on the iPhone, and it's free for all Shopify merchants. With the new Shopify POS, you can now accept cash, credit, debit, and gift cards on your iPhone and iPad. Brick and mortar businesses can use our new Retail Package for more advanced features. Shopify POS seamlessly integrates with your online store so your products, orders and customers are always in sync. Bridging this gap between online and offline selling is an important step forward in our…

Today, we’re excited to introduce storefront editor, the easiest way to build a beautiful online store. Storefront editor empowers you to take creative control of your online store, giving you even more freedom to create a home for your brand. Achieving the look and feel that best represents your brand should be painless. Storefront editor simplifies how you make changes to your store’s design by splitting your screen into two panels. In one panel, you’ll make design choices like picking colors, fonts, photos, and more. In the other, you’ll see a live preview of your store that…

The following is a guest post by Omri Yacubovich of Commerce Sciences. Each day, we make hundreds - sometimes thousands - of decisions, without even realizing it. People are surrounded by persuasive messages all day long, from verbal suggestions by co-workers, to signs and flyers in the street, to more blatant advertisements on TV, radio, the Internet and in other media. Most of these messages are fairly low-stakes; we see and hear them as we go about our business. We’re able to ignore them, or may be biased in a small way, but probably won’t be inspired to take action that very minute.

When it comes to starting an online business, you have a lot of choices to make. The biggest of the choices may be the most important as they will ultimately define your business model and much of the future of your business. In this post, we’re going to show you at a high-level each one of the major choices you need to consider when starting your online business along with the pros and cons so you can make the best decisions possible right from the beginning. Let’s get right into it. Who Do You Want to Sell To? There are a million types of ecommerce stores, all with subtle differences…

The following is a guest post by Growth Hacking consultant Roy Povarchik. Do you want to know the secrets behind some of the best Shopify shops out there? If you are looking to improve your Shopify store or perhaps just get started or simply want to get some inside information on how successful stores get to be successful - look no further! We have rounded up 24 Shopify store owners who we feel are doing something right, to give their advice regarding the best practices to sell using Shopify. We asked them “What is the best tip you can give to new upcoming ecommerce store owners?”…

February is the shortest month but it wasn’t short on fantastic digital marketing content! Check out our picks from around the Web.Errol Denger’s Reinventing Customer Engagement with Experience-Driven Commerce outlines a systematic methodology to establish a rapid and iterative approach to ecommerce innovation.In the Amazon Age, a strong value proposition is essential for any online business. Rich Page has 20 ways to improve your unique value proposition and lift online sales.Not only is this a blog post, but it includes a webinar replay filled with tips for using visitor intent…

This week’s infographic looks at the top 10 challenges organizations face in capitalizing on Big Data, courtesy of Tata Consultancy Services.The Top 10 Big Data Challenges1. Cutural: Getting business units to share information across organizational silos2. Technological: Being able to handle the large volume, velocity and variety of Big Data3. Cultural: Determining what data, both structured and unstructured, and internal and external) to use for different business decisions4. Cultural: Building high levels of trust between the data scientists who present insights on Big Data and the…

If 48% of consumers spend more when their experience is personalized, it’s no wonder that 90% of marketers believe personalization is “the future” and are making it a strategic priority this year.While an ecommerce experience can be targeted by immediate signals of context like geolocation, clickstream behaviour, site-searches, cookies and campaign referrals, true personalization relies on data to drive the experience. And for many ebusinesses, Big Data is part of the equation.Big Data’s one of several key elements of personalization covered in FitForCommerce’s annual report Let’s…

One trend in over the past few years which continues to impact the success of ecommerce and omnichannel companies is the rise of the tech-savvy CMO, as it’s technology that drives digital awareness, experience and action, and it’s technology that measures the impact of marketing strategies and keeps the CMO accountable. And increasingly, CMOs are responsible for part or all of IT budgeting for digital, and have direct reports in technical roles.In the Huffington Post, our own CMO Matt Dion shares his top 5 obsessions every digital CMO must embrace to keep pace with ebusiness…

This week’s infographic hails from Radware, and displays why performance matters to mobile commerce.Tweetables1 in 4 CIOs have no mobile strategy Tweet this25% of Internet users in the US access the Internet solely through their mobile devices Tweet thisMobile accounts for ½ of all ecommerce traffic (40% smartphone, 10% tablet) Tweet thisMobile commerce is growing 48% YOY Tweet thisUp to 97% of mobile shopping carts are abandoned Tweet thisThe average online shopper visits a site 6.2 times before purchasing Tweet thisThe average online shopper uses 2.6 devices through the purchase…

Search, social and shopping are among the biggest smartphone activities in the UK, with Google, Facebook and Amazon boasting the highest numbers of monthly unique visitors. Meanwhile, tablet users show slightly different behavior, as Apple takes the top spot for reach due largely to the popularity of the iPad. Social and search are still big on tablets, though, as Facebook and Google are close behind.

New technology is the top investment priority for 2015 among small-business owners (SBOs). But will associated costs&mdash;the biggest technology-related challenge&mdash;prevent SBOs from actually spending?

The world is still waiting for the wearables market to explode, and estimates indicate astonishing growth over the coming years. As consumer adoption increases, stores may be seeing more shoppers whip out wearable devices when it comes time to check out.

Email has been around for what feels like forever, but the desire for a single customer view has email marketers wanting more. Email-only visibility is the biggest email marketing challenge, with marketers voicing a desire for a complete view of customer-brand interaction. As such, marketers rank tools that enable them to find a 360-view of recipients as the technology that would have the greatest effect on their email marketing efforts.

Grocery shopping in the US is still a largely analog affair. Several digital grocery brands have made a name for themselves, and buy online, pick up in-store has become somewhat popular alongside grocery delivery services and companies like Amazon.com delivering dry goods in quantity. However, most people, most of the time, are still buying food the traditional way: by walking up and down the aisles themselves.

Been a while but I came across a usability blunder bad enough I had to share it. REI uses some javascript to do some whacky stuff to the browser history. It’s so bad that on some pages of the site, there were over 30 entries before I could back up to the page I was previously at, and this is without taking any action on the page except moving the mouse. I checked a number of product and category pages and all had similar coding problems. Quick screenshot, 1 of 3 pages of history of the same page: This just defies all logic. I can’t believe anyone let this malignant code hit a…

I was amazed today trying to checkout on ebay that ebay and Paypal still haven’t figured out how the transaction flow is supposed to work. If a paypal transaction declines when checking out on ebay, rather than giving an error like reason would suggest, they just dump you on a login page. Yes folks, a login page. I’m more or less laughing at this instead of being upset because it’s so absurd that I can hardly believe it myself. I repeated the process 3 times just to rule out user error and took some screen shots for entertainment. The ebay checkout page: The payment page:…

Something that I came across today, that for lack of a better description, just flat out pissed me off. I was booking a hotel room on hotels.com, and found some interesting pricing disparaty when I logged into my hotels.com account on another computer. Initially I had searched for available hotels, and found one for $145. I logged into my account in a separate browser, and low and behold, the price went up to $220. Tried from another computer and same result. I could add the hotel to my cart and then login and the price would remain the same. So basically Hotels.com sticks it to their repeat…

Just about every news website and blog uses online video as a means of communicating with their audience. Online video started gaining popularity several years ago with the creation of youtube and other video sharing services. Youtube gained immediate and nearly unprecedented popularity. Media companies looked at this inspiring boost in traffic and had to figure out a way to monetize online video. Putting history aside, online video is often used improperly. Companies are hanging on some antiquated TV theory that people want everything delivered in video and not in text. I’ve gotten to…

If you look at any of the posts I’ve done regarding server or computer setups, you’ll find some similarities in the way I set things up. After enough testing myself and reviewing other people’s experience I like to stick with certain brands and specific models of hardware when setting things up. For example, I almost always use Tyan or Supermicro motherboards for servers, Dell Optiplex computers for desktops and workstations, CentOS for server operating systems, Areca hard drive controllers, the same brand and model hard drives when possible, etc.. A few months ago we had a…

Heading back to Washington, DC’s snow, ice, and “wintry mixes” was not quite as stimulating as spending time networking and learning at Operative‘s second annual Ad Revenue and Operations Summit, aka “OP/ED” that attracted about 100 executive last week in Miami, FL. The invitation-only conference was held for Operative’s clients and partners to share best practices, insights and help set the agenda for 2015 and beyond. Lorne Brown, Operative’s President/CEO and Founder will be speaking on BIA/Kelsey’s Programmatic Superforum at the…

The BIA/Kelsey NATIONAL show is now fully in place, with 56 speakers set to define the cutting edge in national brands and local marketing. The show takes place March 25-27 at The Dallas Westin. Just added to the program: Internet visionary Mitch Golub, who leaves Cars.com today after successfully developing it into a $1.8 Billion enterprise that has, along with AutoTrader.com, helped define all the best practices of working with the world’s most aggressive national and local marketers (the car manufacturers and car dealers.) Also added: key brands defining the best in vertical…

Starting today, Ifbyphone is DialogTech. In conversations with the company last week, it characterized this as a move to more adequately represent the market its pursuing. In the evolutions of mobile devices and overall telephony, voice-based leads aren’t just coming in by “phone.” Beyond semantics, there are deeper connotations that the company will reveal in the coming weeks. It’s kicking that off today with a new product launch that couples with the brand unveiling. Known as LeadFlow, it’s a toolset for third parties to build call-based leads marketplaces. In…

Q&A with John McIntyre, Founder & CEO, Sightly BIA/Kelsey: John, your company provides targeted, cross-screen video advertising. Video and programmatic targeting are particularly hot right now in the market. So let’s talk about that. We’ve seen this moving from national into local media with increased acceleration lately. Let’s start with the basics, how do you define “programmatic”? McIntyre: Programmatic buying, in its most simple form, is the automated real-time bidding and purchasing of digital advertising inventory. It is undoubtedly a powerful tool, but…

Traditional media companies struggle to find the right formula for digital sales. The challenge isn’t really about deciding whether to go with a pure digital only approach v. relying completely on existing legacy sales resources. The decision matrix is much more complex than this binary choice. Publishers need to use their existing sales assets to grow digital revenue. Failing to do so simply isn’t practical for most companies. But publishers also need to bring in more digital expertise and make many important strategic decisions about sales structure. A new BIA/Kelsey Insight…

This week, Blue Acorn, a premium eCommerce design, development and optimization agency, announced the launch of a responsive eCommerce site for Crosman, a leading manufacturer and retailer of airgun and airsoft products and accessories. Blue Acorn built the new eCommerce site on the latest version of Magento Enterprise Edition. Determined to upgrade from their outdated, custom solution, Crosman chose Magento because the scalable eCommerce platform will support their continued growth for years to come. Blue Acorn’s success with new Magento EE implementations and custom module integrations…

As 2014 comes to a close, we can’t help but look back at everything we accomplished. It was a great year for Blue Acorn – in 2014 we moved into our first custom-built office, we were named to the Inc. 5000 for the second year in a row, and our team grew by 44%. Since celebrating is one of our core values, we found many reasons to do so along the way. Check out some of our highlights by numbers:

Today, Blue Acorn announced the launch of its first-ever fitting room integration for Rebecca Minkoff, an industry leader in accessible luxury handbags, accessories, footwear and apparel. The integration comes at the same time as Rebecca Minkoff’s new responsive eCommerce site, which Blue Acorn built on Magento Enterprise Edition 1.14, the most recent edition of the enterprise-grade eCommerce platform. To better understand how and why anyone would integrate an eCommerce site with a fitting room, it helps to understand the incredibly futuristic nature of Rebecca Minkoff’s fitting rooms. On…

When Google released Universal Analytics in beta last year, we were impressed, but not surprised. Google stays ahead of the curve, and we knew the ability to track visitors across multiple devices would soon become the standard. As expected, they did it first, and they did it well. However, when they announced Enhanced Ecommerce earlier this year, we began looking at the godfather of analytics in a whole new light. Click HERE to view this extension on Magento Connect. Enhanced Ecommerce – in our eyes – represents Google’s strongest commitment to eCommerce analytics to date.

This week, Blue Acorn announced the launch of a new website for Curtain Call, a premiere supplier of dance recital apparel, owned by Perform Group, LLC, the industry leader in gymnastics and dance apparel. The new site is built on Magento Enterprise Edition 1.14. Perform Group selected Blue Acorn to upgrade their family of websites from an outdated proprietary platform to provide their customers (primarily dance studio owners) with a streamlined shopping experience. The unique requirements gave Blue Acorn the opportunity to integrate several custom modules. “Selecting Blue Acorn as our…

Stop everything, open Google Analytics, select 9 month time period and see Conversions—> Ecommerce—>Product Performance report.It’s highly likely that your top seller sells 2X as many units as the next best seller (Zipf’s law).Now go to your top seller product page (on your site) and copy page link name. Return to Google Analytics and go to Behavior—>Site Content—>All Pages report and enter the unique part of your top seller product page link name into this box and hit enter— This will pull up stats for top seller product page.Note number listed under Unique…

Few facts about online shoppers— 1: They are impatient and unexcited about reading your 2,000 word product description. 2: They hate making a bad purchase decision, but the alternative of comparing multiple products on multiple sites isn’t ideal either. To solve for 1 and 2 consider adding an infographic like this on your product page— Click for zoomed view

Fact 1: 100 million people watched the super bowl this year. Fact 2: The shark to the left of Katy Perry made a great impression on popular culture. Fact 3: Revzilla.com knows online shoppers have an attention span of 5 seconds, tops. Fact 4: The one thing revzilla.com wants new site visitors to know is that they offer free shipping over $39.99, guarantee lowest prices, and have excellent customer service. Combine Facts 1, 2, 3 and 4 and you get this— Nearly every visitor to revzilla.com homepage will notice the shark graphic, and by association, the assurance message next to it.And…

Because I’ve been obsessing over ecommerce for 8 years I often erroneously start believing I’m an expert. I’m not. Case in point— on my virtual stroll through ecommerce stores I stumbled on bikesdirect.com. Please stop reading, visit their homepage and return in 10 seconds. I didn’t take bikesdirect.com seriously because it was obviously a “small” site with a “1995” look. For laughs I checkout out their compete.com visit stats (https://siteanalytics.compete.com/bikesdirect.com)— In 5 seconds flat my smile was gone. Please help me understand why this site has so…

… reviews of customers who live near you. Lifesourcewater.com understands this and that’s why they have a cool feature called “Search For Reviews In Your Zip Code:”— The shopper can enter their zip code and see listing of reviews of shoppers near them— Basically lifesourcewater.com re-sorts reviews starting from the searcher’s zip code. This is a good tactic for sites that have a large number of geographically wide customer reviews.

When you’re working from home you should always be looking for ways to increase your productivity. More work done in less time means more time to kick back, relax and have fun. Here are a few suggestions that can really make a difference: 1. Keep a daily routine Some people who are new to working from home will scoff at the idea of anything resembling a daily schedule. The truth, though, is that it can really boost productivity and prevent work from spilling over into your spare time. By starting and stopping work at approximately the same times every day, you ensure you’ll have…

Yes! John, I want to attend one of the 2015 Boot Camps! Since I am acting now, I will invest only $799.00 $295.00 because I have received a special invitation for Early Bird Registration You order includes: - (1) One ticket to the city event of your choosing - One Complimentary Guest Pass - Access to the eBusiness Bootcamp Group Page – Class Workbook - Copy of Best-Selling Ecommerce Book “Kick Ass Social Commerce” BONUS: Business Sumo Online Training Modules Pick a city Atlanta, GA: April 10-11Chicago, IL: April 24 -25Dallas, TX: June 12-13Las Vegas, NV: June 26 –…

eCommerce growth continues unabated around the world, with eCommerce being cited as a driver of overall economic growth in markets from China to Nigeria. Indeed, online retail revenues continue to soar in every market that we forecast--China alone will generate more than $1 trillion in eCommerce sales by 2019. As eCommerce markets in different parts of the globe flourish, a growing number of digital business leaders are being asked to take their brands into new markets. What opportunities exist for eCommerce leaders looking to expand internationally? How are they tapping into these…

Mobile World Congress (MWC) is "the" event in mobile. It is the event where Samsung, HTC, Huawei, Sony, Microsoft, LG … well, really everyone (but Apple) will launch new mobile phones, tablets, and wearables. And, yes big-screened mobile phones are still "in." I'm more likely to buy a leather jacket with bigger pockets or a larger purse than to buy a smaller phone. Thousands flock to Barcelona annually to hold these devices in their hands. Words too often fall short in describing the feeling of holding the next Samsung device in your hand or the emotions of delight and bewilderment…

Two things matter in mobile: audience and data. SnapChat has audience. Audience matters because consumers are using fewer and fewer applications on their mobile devices. Brands can no longer pursue a "destination" strategy and expect consumers will come to them. They need to go engage consumers where they are. Facebook's acquisition of WhatsApp for $19B gave us a sense of just how valuable audience depth, reach and usage is. Data matters because it helps us simplify or improve mobile experiences by anticipating the needs of customers or to improve the value of advertising - if you are…

Reviewing online functionality for a selection of key European online only retailers, I am struck by a shift. With the basics of purchasing and navigation nailed down, the devil is now in the detail of implementing online functionality for apparel retailers - particularly those that are online only. Now we are seeing both subtle and overt efforts to improve merchandising and remote clienteling online proactive live chat, 2D size guides, personal shopping style guides and 'compete the outfit' suggestions on product pages. To get to the next level of best practice and differentiation online…

Instacart's recent $2 billion valuation suggests many believe same-day delivery to be the next standard for fulfilling online orders. Online and mobile food ordering service GrubHub recently showed its commitment to delivery by announcing the acquisition of two players in the food delivery space, DiningIn and Restaurants On The Run. Amazon, too, has been expanding its already robust same-day (and same-hour) delivery initiatives in an effort to compete with the immediacy of in-store shopping, and a number of large multichannel retailers have followed suit in the hopes of beating Amazon at its…

Shopping cart abandonment remains a significant cause of heartburn for just about every online business — from the smallest storefront to the largest mega-retailer. In fact, an average of 68% of all online shopping carts are abandoned. Why do shoppers fail to complete a transaction? There are several causes, including cost, security and the website experience itself. The Impact of Trust on Cart Abandonment One big reason is trust — the perception by visitors that your business is legitimate and reputable. A lack of trust in a site and its ability to safely handle credit card and other…

As the chief executive of an ecommerce agency, Indaba Group, I am often asked by partners, employees, prospects and customers to provide insight on the ecommerce landscape and what trends I see shaping the industry. One of the current “hot topics” is the question of whether successful online merchants should opt for a licensed or SaaS-based solution for their ecommerce platform. Here are the common definitions of the two solutions: Licensed – A license for a platform built by a third-party vendor and maintained internally or by a Solutions Integrator (SI) usually hosted on premise or…

Happy Friday, everyone. For the past two days, #TheDress has sparked an interesting and unexpected debate over whether it is gold and white or black and blue. It’s a question that has divided the internet and emphasizes the importance of using high-quality product imagery when selling items online. Of course, the virality of the issue makes for some comic social sharing, too: I’m loving @Bigcommerce‘s new Gold and White logo! #TheDress pic.twitter.com/ANnIso7tPV — Tim Schulz (@timschulz) February 27, 2015 Now to get into our roundup of this week’s top ecommerce news. See…

Consumers are using their phone to check email on a nearly 24-hour cycle. While this certainly gives your brand the opportunity to reach the customer at any point in time, it also presents one major hurdle: standing out. Per a Forrester study published at the end of 2013, consumers were more than twice as likely to delete most email marketing without reading it (42%) than they were to read most email ads just in case something catches their eye (19%). The best way to overcome this is segmentation, but getting to the right segments is difficult. A Strong View study quantified some of the…

This is the seventh installment of the #SellMore Small Business Boot Camp series, in which we have already discussed how to find a product niche, how to source your product, how to evaluate your small business idea, business laws and nuances you’ll need to address, how to conduct market research and how to identify your market competition. This week, we’ll be covering how to complete a high-level competitive analysis. Completing an analysis of your competition before you open up shop is not only wise, it’s essential to staying in business. By monitoring your competition on an on-going…

Here is the preview of the newest theme “Monogram Town” which will be the 13th of 20 FREE professionally designed responsive themes released. If you would like to preview the live demo of this “Monogram Town” theme, you can do so by clicking the link below. Check it out on your phone, tablet or computer, you [...]

Here is the preview of the newest theme “NYC Flat” which will be the 12th of 20 FREE professionally designed responsive themes released. If you would like to preview the live demo of this “NYC Flat” theme, you can do so by clicking the link below. Check it out on your phone, tablet or computer, you [...]

Hi 3dcart users! We wanted to inform you of important updates to the way we handle support tickets. Beginning March 1st, 2015, emails sent directly to support@3dcart.com will no longer work. After almost 15 years of dedicated and often heroic service filtering (on average) five to ten spam emails for every actual ticket; the support@ email [...]

The Poster Service Responsive Theme – #11 of 20 FREE Professionally Designed Themes from 3dCart Here is the preview of the newest theme “The Poster Service” which will be the 10th of 20 FREE professionally designed responsive themes released. If you would like to preview the live demo of this “The Poster Service” theme, you can [...]

At 3dcart we want to share the love for our customers, there are so many beautiful 3dcart stores that is hard to list them all, so we chose to showcase the below sampling of well-designed websites because overall they are doing ecommerce right – great navigation, beautiful product photos, compelling calls-to-action and responsive design. So take a look [...]

Tweet Sure, we’re all about websites here at LexiConn, but many online stores have a physical store as well. How does your listing look on Google for your store? What does it look like on Google Maps? Smartphone usage continues to climb and with that comes people searching on their phones for businesses while they are out shopping. If you have a physical store why not make it easy for them to find you? Google’s My Business service will help you do that! What Is It? Google’s My Business feature is basically a combination of Google Maps and Google+ that allows you to…

Tweet Are you currently using or planning to use Universal Analytics to track e-commerce transactions in your ShopSite store? Is your store also configured to use a shared SSL certificate during checkout? If you have answered yes to both, you’ll want to keep reading. If you are unsure on the SSL question, here is a quick method for verifying whether your store is configured to use a shared or private SSL certificate. In any web browser, go to your site and add an item to your cart. Next, proceed to checkout and note the web address in the address bar of the browser (the web…

Tweet Magento has several built-in options to facilitate free shipping promotions. In this post, we’ll review each type of setup, as well as their pros and cons. Step 1: Enable a free shipping option Free Shipping as a standalone shipping method (Option 1) Stores configured to use Flat Rate or Table Rates as shipping methods can set up a free shipping option by enabling the Free Shipping method. This is a standalone shipping method set up under System -> Configuration -> Sales -> Shipping Methods -> Free Shipping. (click to enlarge) The Free Shipping method is…

Tweet It’s January, which means it’s time for us to compile reports on the holiday sales trends for small ecommerce merchants! Continuing our trend from 2012 and 2013, we’ll start by taking at a look at how the big e-tailers fared… The Big Store Stats comScore is our go-to source for holiday reporting for large retailers and their 2014 numbers show a 15% increase in sales during the holiday shopping season (Nov 1 – Dec 21) between 2013 and 2014. IBM reported similar results in their 2014 report, with a 13.9% increase over 2013. The Small Store Stats For our…

Tweet Magento recently released its first look at Magento 2 to the developer community. Magento 2 is a completely different product from Magento 1. From much of the code being re-written, to new features and new requirements, it’s not simply a version with some improved functionality. I’ll go over a few items to be aware of with regards to this new version… What do merchants need to know about Magento 2 right now? First, do not expect to be running V2 any time soon. The official roadmap has these dates in mind for Magento 2: Developer Beta – December 2014 Developer…

For search marketers, conversion rate is an important metric used to judge success and a big factor in advocating for a fair share of a business’s overall marketing budget. As such, search marketers spend countless hours studying, optimizing and seeking advice on improving this vital metric; read on to discover 5 unique tips to improve your campaign conversion rate. 1 – Analyze Search Terms Phrase and broad match types are excellent for driving conversion volume for terms that aren’t captured by your exact match types, but they inherently have a lower conversion rate. To get the…

According to statistics shared by Google, 97% of consumers go online to look for local products, but only 2 out of 5 (37%) of US small businesses have a website. The main purpose of this event was to understand the value of digital marketing and how you can expand your online presence through smarter insights to grow your business. The speakers included Tom Rowe, the Managing Director of Global Channel Sales, who discussed how small businesses can differentiate themselves from their competitors through digital marketing, and AdWords Evangelist Fred Valleys, who covered how small…

UPS and FedEx have just both adjusted their shipping fees to work off of Dimensional Weight. Previously, they were just charging you based on the weight of the package. With the new change in effect, you’ll be paying for weight and volume. How does this affect me? This change sounds like it won’t affect you outside of shipping fees, however it will affect any online retailers that sells on Google Shopping and uses the Merchant Center “Carrier-Calculated” shipping options. Google just sent out a notice regarding Dimensional Weight in Merchant Center, the full email is…

Bing Ads recently unveiled a new version of their conversion tracking pixel. While the new Universal Event Tracking (UET) gives you more flexibility, it is also slightly clunky. Below is a quick run-down of how to install the eCommerce Revenue tracking using the new UET. NOTE: The old tracking system can be found under: Tools —> Campaign Analytics, that has be deprecated and can no longer be used. Get the Universal Event Tracking Code Start by logging into your Bing Ads account and then navigating to: Campaigns —> Shared Library —> Goals and Conversions —> Create Tag…

We are very excited to announce that Visa has signed a definitive agreement to acquire TrialPay. We will be joining forces with the world’s leading payment company, extending our vision from 2006 to make transactions more profitable for merchants and consumers alike. As the worlds of commerce and payments continue to merge, combining Visa’s incredible payments footprint with TrialPay’s commerce and offers platform is a tremendous opportunity for us to impact the world on an even greater scale. Today’s announcement builds on our productive partnership with Visa that included a license…

Can you believe GDC is next week? You’ve got your pass, your conference agenda, and your business cards ready to go. But what about the after-party? Don’t worry, TrialPay has you covered. We’re taking our after-party as seriously as the main event, so you better be there! We are so excited to be hosting this year’s Free2Play Mixer, the longest running GDC after-party, and it’s sure to sell out soon. This event draws gaming industry executives and developers to network over free drinks and appetizers at 111 Minna Gallery, just a few blocks from Moscone. Last year, over 1,900…

Last week, TrialPay was a sponsor at the first Mobile Growth Summit hosted by the UA Fellowship. While there, our VP of Global Partnerships, Tiffany Kwong, addressed the audience of developers, monetization experts, and user acquisition managers, on the current state of the industry, and what that means for monetization in 2015. Let’s start with the stats: Smartphone penetration in 2015: 71% of the North American Population 36% of APAC 28% Global Mobile Gaming $25bn industry in 2014 Mobile video ad revenue: Project to hit $1bn by 2015 $4.4bn by 2018 5X faster growth rate than desktop…

Mobile Growth Summit is only two weeks away on February 5-6 at the Parc Wyndham San Francisco – Union Square. Do you plan to attend? We have five reasons for why you should! 1. “It’s gonna get real” This is the first conference hosted by the Mobile Growth Fellowship, the world’s largest network of user acquisition and growth professionals. With a carefully curated set of speakers and attendees, there will be no shortage of exclusive, uncensored content. “Ad Mediation – Hot Seat!” and “Secret Sauce of the App Stores” are just a few of the featured panel topics. 2.

Even though you’ve packed away the decorations, and have already given up on your new year’s resolutions, the holidays aren’t over quite yet. That’s right; Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! Before you dismiss it as a not a “real” holiday, you might be surprised to know that consumers spend upwards of $17 BILLION on flowers, candy, cards and chocolate. Even Fido isn’t safe from Cupid’s arrow! TrialPay can help developers capitalize on this gift-giving spree with specialized integrations. We partner with the best brands in the…

Last week, I spoke at a VT/NH Direct Marketing Group event along with Kevin Hillstrom of Mine That Data and Bill LaPierre of Datamann. At the end of the day, we took about an hour to answer questions that were sent in before the conference as well as some “live” audience questions. Frankly, I thought most people would bail before this session – it had already been a long day — filled with rapid-fire information and teensy spreadsheets — and the weather outside was, well, not delightful. (Datamann did a fantastic job of hosting the Show but they did absolutely nothing about…

On February 19, 2015 Bill LaPierre, Kevin Hillstrom and yours truly will be hosting a seminar entitled “Who’s Looking Out For Your Interests?” in Concord, NH.** This info-packed, day-long seminar focuses on where the catalog and ecommerce industries are going and the impact the future will have on your business. You will get a realistic view of how we got to where we are, and what you’ll need to do to push, pull and carry your company along to survive in the future. If you read Bill’s blog or are on his email list, you’ve likely already heard him wax poetically about Kevin.

For the past month or so, I’ve been getting a lot of emails from folks who are worried about the upcoming Holiday season. Most of them are on “lockdown” (meaning no new projects till after Christmas) and are concerned that their plans aren’t enough. Sales were soft for a lot of companies in August and September so I understand the anxiety – although the whole “IT gets a three month vacation” baloney? Not. A. Fan. But I digress. If you’re staying up at night wondering if your company’s Christmas business is going to be a hit or a miss this year or if you’re just…

When I began my internet career, my first “legitimate” email address was a CompuServe number. Back then, if you told someone you were doing work on the web (or the WWW as it was ever-so-fondly called), they’d often look at you quizzically, wondering whether or not you made a good porn star or how much money you had from trafficking whatever illegal things you were selling. Allegedly. These days, I get thousands of emails about mobile with the same sort of questions as folks had then. People want to know what to do, what not to do, and a lot of times they just want to tell me the…

Catalogers and other offline marketers have many advantages when it comes to eCommerce. Unfortunately, most of them don’t leverage their benefits. What’s even more demoralizing? They often turn their positives into BIG negatives. No, I’m not being a Negative Nelly here. Ass-y Amy? Perhaps. That’s always a fair assumption. But I digress… I started my direct marketing career in the mail order world and I will always have a soft-spot for catalog and two-step companies. There was nothing like opening an envelope filled with cash – yes, cash — from some little old lady…

We can’t make this decision for you – there’s too many unique circumstances surrounding your situation. But, we can give you some guidelines so you can make this decision on your own. You are the expert on your business, after all. With that in mind, here are some things you should look for that may indicate it’s time for a new e-commerce platform to help you manage your website: • Lots of growth – You may need a better website host than you have right now Increased back-office integration – As you grow, one of the biggest needs you’ll have is the…

You get endless Facebook and Twitter tips on the web. Over the last 6 months of 2014, Pinterest grew its active user base by 111%. Other social networks may get all the publicity, but Pinterest is one you can’t ignore. Here are some simple tactics you can implement today to get more sales from Pinterest: 1. Simply Show Photos of Your Products It really is that easy in some cases. This infographic shows 20% of Pinterest users buy a product after pinning or liking it. 2. Use Rich Pins For one thing, this makes your pins easier to discover and click on because rich pins are eligible for…

So are you the type of person who gets your taxes done right away, or do you wait until the last minute? Of course taxes aren’t easy. But they will get easier (and less costly) if you follow these tips: 1. A Few Deadlines to Remember Of course, the one you should know is April 15 for personal income and partnership tax returns. But here are some others to remember: February 2: Forms 1099 and W2 must be postmarked and sent to your contractors/employees March 16: Corporate tax returns due. Make sure you have them filed – especially if this is your first year. 2. Do You Understand…

So you’ve spent all this time working on your e-commerce site, and you’re just not getting the sales you want. Hopefully you can still hang in there while you figure what’s going on. And it could just be one of these things: 1. You Don’t Have a True USP We’ve talked about this issue before. It’s hard to find a USP. But basically, what it is, is a 2-3 sentence statement that makes your products different from all the other website who sell something similar on the web. When you get right down to it, many products are exactly the same. So, you have to…

Do you go to your doctor at least once per year for a checkup? Your e-commerce store needs the exact same thing on an annual basis. Before you know it, you’ve been in business for years – and there’s all kinds of stuff you need to fix with your website that you haven’t thought about during that time. Have you checked for things like these: 1. On-Page SEO Stuff Titles and meta descriptions get truncated or forgotten entirely. You may not have a focus keyword for your pages. Perhaps some of the copy doesn’t reflect how you currently do business. Maybe some of your…

Adwords recently introduced call-only campaigns, a new and easy way for businesses to reach potential customers by showing their phone number, business description and call button during their search. Call-only campaigns allow retailers to focus on getting users to click-to-call a business straight from the ads. With... > Read More The post Maximize the Value of Customer Calls With Adwords Call-only Campaigns appeared first on .

Following the announcement of Facebook Product Ads, we asked our experts here at CPC Strategy, “What the New Program Means for Retailers“. Today, we take a closer look at AdEspresso, a start up program offering ad tools to make Facebook Advertising easy and profitable for small... > Read More The post How to Get a Higher ROI on Facebook Ads Using AdEspresso appeared first on .

Day Parting, also referred to as ad scheduling, refers to the tactic of adjusting ad exposure for certain hours of the day and/or days of the week by modifying bids. Lewis Brannon, Retail Search Manager at CPC Strategy weighs in on how to... > Read More The post Ad Scheduling and Day Parting for a Successful 2015 [Video] appeared first on .

Since revamping its targeting capabilities in August of 2014, Amazon Sponsored Products has quietly become one of the most profitable and influential levers to drive Marketplace performance. Last week, CPC Strategy’s Pat Petriello, Head of Marketplace Strategy dove into how Sponsored Products work, how... > Read More The post 19 Questions From Our Amazon Sponsored Products Strategy & Analysis Course – Answered appeared first on .

Facebook Launches New Product Ad Program With the announcement of Facebook’s new Product Ads, the latest product advertising program could lead to groundbreaking revenue for both the social network and retailers thanks to their advanced user-data and targeting capabilities. According to Facebook,... > Read More The post Facebook Product Ads: What the New Program Means for Retailers appeared first on .

The purchase process is something that is no longer simply done at a desktop computer. It can start with a quick search on a mobile phone, which leads to browsing by tablet and finally making the purchase at a desktop. So making sure your store is optimized to deliver the best possible experience through any device is important. Here are a few Volusion merchants who have made the switch and seen the successes to prove it. The ZigZag Stripe When it comes to women’s fashion large, beautiful photography is important. And women’s fashion boutique, The ZigZag Stripe, is hitting the nail on the…

Good entrepreneurs know there are always ways to grow their businesses … but great entrepreneurs understand the key to success is finding expansion opportunities where risk is low, and gains are high. For Volusion-powered online stores owners, that opportunity exists now, in an unlikely place: language. Imagine a version of your Volusion ecommerce store, presented in several languages, serving global & domestic markets, and appearing in relevant regional and international search engines. Take the greatest U.S.-based opportunity, the U.S. Hispanic market. There are more than 53 million…

Earlier this year, we launched an exciting contest for Volusion customers to boost their business in 2015. The contest, Let’s Grow Your Business Together, asked two main questions: 1) What is your biggest business goal for 2015? and 2) Why do you need help achieving that goal? After the entry period closed, we were pumped (and a little surprised) by the number of essays submitted – over 2,500 of you entered this contest. To each of you who took the time to write the essays, our sincerest thanks for sharing your stories with us. The judging panel had an extremely difficult decision, as…

Do you sell awesome products on your website, but fail to generate revenue? Are people making it to the first date by visiting your site, only to ditch you at the metaphorical internet coffee shop with the tab? Have you ever wondered why your ecommerce site (with-the-heart-of-gold) keeps getting friend-zoned? Boy, do I have the solution for you! It’s called UX and it’s going to change your website’s life. Cheesy and infomercial-esque dating references aside (don’t worry; there will be more), building an excellent user experience, or UX, is absolutely essential to running a successful…

Finish this sentence: “Back in my day…..” Now imagine that sentence posted on your site, or your Facebook account somewhere. That statement is going to be a big hit with those that identify with it – your generation — and get a collective rolling of the eyes from everyone who doesn’t “get it.” Speaking to the generational differences of your audience can help bridge the gap with your store and cement a common bond. Creating an online presence that understands and identifies with its customers is a powerful thing for your business. With an online store, your customer could be…

Shipwire will soon begin upgrading all merchants to the new UI (User Interface), Shipwire V3. Very soon you will experience an application that’s friendlier and easier to use, a brand new Guided Product Creation Tool, and much more. In order to explain Shipwire V3, we’ve put together a quick video to help familiarize you with all the updates in under five minutes. While this is an exciting milestone for us, as always, we are focused on taking care of our customers. In order to make the transition to Shipwire V3 as smooth as possible, we’ll be rolling out the upgrade in phases. Here…

Many lucky merchants are already using (and loving) the new experience and the features that come with it. Shipwire accounts created after Nov. 4, 2014 are already operating on Shipwire V3, as are a handful of existing accounts belonging to merchants who were invaluable in testing the new application and providing us with feedback during its development. We can’t wait to upgrade all our users’ accounts. The new tools accessible with Shipwire V3 were designed from the ground up with our customers in mind, and we’re eager to see them put to use! In order to explain Shipwire V3, we’ve…

It’s a common pattern and we cover it each year: UPS increases its rates. For details on rate changes, see here. Peak season surcharges added This year, UPS has added a new surcharge that’s applicable in the peak season. In other words, some customers may see a new shipping surcharge occur around the holidays. However, it is assumed that some exceptions will be made, based on the following information from UPS CEO, David Abney: According to Abney, peak season surcharges on residential deliveries will be added “on a customer-segmented basis,” and “In some cases, these changes will be…

This is the first post in our series on drop shipping. Please check back soon for the next installment. Drop shipping is a buzzword thrown around loosely and often incorrectly. Knowing that, we thought it would be useful to discuss the pros and cons of drop shipping as a fulfillment method and share some information that e-commerce merchants need in order to make educated business decisions. In the process, we’ll also shed light on common drop shipping challenges and possible solutions to them. Advantages of drop shipping You don’t have to look hard to find trending articles about…

Returns are part of the deal when it comes to e-commerce businesses. According to eMarketer, 24% of consumers will abandon their shopping carts if return policy details are not clearly stated. The rate of cart abandonment increases if, once customers find the return policy, it appears to be complicated. To capture some low-hanging fruit (aka easy sales), publish your return process in clear and simple terms. When setting up your policy, think of guidelines that you would be comfortable following. By putting yourself in your customers shoes, you’ll be able to create a reasonable,…

This infographic from Vouchercloud deals with something every merchant needs to wonder about. It begins to explore the perception of value by looking at how different types of food and music underwent changes in the way customers value and pay for these items. For example, lobster was once 300 percent cheaper than baked beans, and considered a cheap foodstuff fit only for consumption by lowly prisoners and cats. By the end of the 20th century it was seen as a luxury item with a continually rising price. Similarly, 20 years ago, music albums typically contained a dozen songs a piece…

This February, we posted some great content on a variety of topics — all of them relevant to those who sell digital goods online. On the topic of security, we showcased an infographic about how to protect your business from cyber threats, and posted an article on how to manage the risk presented by fraudsters who are trying to compromise your business. Additionally, we presented advice from the experts on how to deal with customers who routinely miss payments, and how to provide remarkable ecommerce experiences to help you win and retain customers. For this month’s Ecommerce Digest,…

If you go to Forrester Research’s YouTube channel, you will find a playlist called Forrester’s Forum For eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals 2014. In that playlist, you’ll find twelve videos that give you a high level understanding of how digital technologies are disrupting business in every industry. This series of short videos should be watched by anyone interested in jumpstarting their thinking about how to improve their business practices by embracing cutting edge technology and a culture of continual improvement. One of the interesting lessons I learned from…

Someone once said to me “Fraudsters are lazy.” It is this misunderstanding of the type of people committing fraud that leads online merchants to create ineffective fraud prevention policies. This is not a post on the psychology of fraudsters, but rather a discussion of how understanding that fraudsters are not “lazy” will help you create better fraud prevention strategies. Fraud is not a black and white issue. It has been around since one person decided to deceive another person – so pretty much forever. In our day and age, fraud has evolved from deceiving one person to…

The first rule of business is to make people’s lives easier. Yes, it’s a cliché, but clichés are usually true. We all bring value to our customers, and that value is what we monetize. Whether that value is delivered by making sure our users don’t have to manually write with simple word-processing software; or we make an individual’s computer safer with anti-virus or anti-malware programs; or we help them store files in the cloud; or we make it easy to analyze data – we all make our customers’ lives less difficult. However, if you’re unable to communicate how your…

We at Avactis are constantly working on improving our software, in order to make it even better and convenient to use. For the same reason, we constantly come up with regular enhancements in the form of sub releases. The latest being AvactisNext 4.7.4 Let me take you through the latest addition with AvactisNext 4.7.4, - Repsonsive Email Notification : All the email notifications that you will be sending to your customers will be totally responsive. They won’t be facing any problem to view your mail on a mobile, laptop or an ipad - Ajax Filter : Now you can filter the extensions as…

In 2014, we became aware of the true power of e-commerce. Not only did they provide quality service to their customers present worldwide, they made sure that each and every customer could avail absolutely anything, while enjoying the comforts of their home. Not only that, given the easy accessibility of various e-commerce stores on mobile devices, users were able to access and shop for their favorite commodities while confining themselves in their warm bed. In short, inline shopping has made shopping a hassle free affair. But to make sure that their customers remain updated with latest deals…

We are all used to the benefits of online shopping. From a small hair pin to an expensive golden ringeverything can be bought through an online shopping cart. Though people enjoy the hassle free option of online shopping, many buyers have gradually started abandoning the shopping carts for several reasons. Have you ever wondered why? Why have online buyers suddenly taken a back seat? Let’s try to throw some light on the reasons for abandoning of online shopping carts. High (hidden) Prices Online shopping initially gained success because of major cut off in pricing that it offered, as…

For e-commerce websites, 2014 was a blast. According to estimates the global sales from online purchasing reached a dizzying $1.5 trillion by the end of 2014. The past year clearly portrayed the true potential of e-commerce and how it can be further perfected. Such a behemoth turnover proved to be a threat for brick and mortar business and compelled them to make their presence felt over the world wide web. But the question remains, what does the upcoming year has in store for us? So in this post we will dive in and utilize the available statistics to predict the upcoming e-commerce trends of…

Web or graphic designers have to consort with creating eternally smart and stylish web projects to stay in the game. For this, they need to keep their eyes and ears open to track down and to learn to use the right resources. Designers must align things in such a way that they are able to proceed and progress in an organized and thoughtful way. The more specific you are about the choice of your design resources, the more likely are the chances that your web projects are built to excel. Hence, before you apply final touches to any project, take time to analyze it thoroughly, and do learn to…

By the Reevoo team The act of buying isn’t just a financial investment, it’s also an emotional one. A wealth of factors – price, customer service, product quality, convenient delivery – build brand affinity. A single bad experience can sour customer relationships; nobody likes to be let down. This isn’t news to retailers, but the difference now is that consumer opinions are shared more than ever before. Blogs, vlogs, reviews, social media and forums have become trusted sources for shoppers to influence brand perceptions. With negative views twice as likely to be shared as positive…

By the Reevoo team Last November we showed you how user generated content (UGC) was the driving force behind BLACK + DECKER’s Christmas marketing campaign. Now that the sawdust has cleared, love fills the air – and it’s Lenovo playing cupid. This Valentine’s Day, Lenovo has launched a campaign to help loved up partners find the perfect gift for their other half. However, instead of just providing a nice list of whatever products they happen to be promoting, Lenovo has given the power to the people. These days, couples are looking to treat their significant other with something more…

By Mitchel Nicholson It’s getting tricky for brands to be relevant on social media. Facebook is fast becoming the new search engine; for many, a portal to news, editorial content and Ladbible videos. Just like the search engines, it’s tough for marketers to navigate Facebook’s complicated algorithms. Twitter’s linear traffic-jam style means tweets disappear like smoke in the air within seconds. It’s tough to get a word in. Advertisers are looking to more niche social networks like Instagram and Vine to get across their uniqueness. And so they should. While established for users,…

By the Reevoo team How data can shape the user experience – and vice versa. Good customer experiences used to be driven by advances in technology. The key to a customer’s heart was shock and awe. “Wow me! Show me something I’ve never seen before!” Now, we’re seeing a shift toward more ‘human’ interactions between consumers and brands. Where once company resource was funnelled away from customer service toward flashy technology, it now returns, tail between legs, ready to start a more meaningful relationship. Luckily, ‘more meaningful’ is more possible than ever thanks to…

By Edwin Bos, VP of Innovation All these year end lists and ‘in review’ articles are great, but they’re stuck in the past. Let’s roll forward five years, to the year-end review of 2019. Working WAY ahead of deadline here. At the current rate, it’s likely to be a much different landscape that we’re looking back on. Here are my predictions/retrospectives of 2019. What a year it’s been! 1. The Facebook Exodus Who would have thought five years ago that consumers could wrestle control away from powerhouses Google, Facebook and Twitter? Consumers got everything they wanted for free,…

This essay is part of a series written by speakers featuring at our upcoming 10th anniversary TNW Conference on April 23 & 24 in Amsterdam. Discount tickets to the event are still available for purchase here. These days, everyone seems to have a great idea for an app or a product. Clever ideas are always nice to have, but when it comes to figuring out what to invest your energy in making, even great ideas are often a total waste of time. Instead of a great idea, what you really need is a problem to solve. From marketing executives in Fortune 500 companies to hungry developers launching…

Huge’s CEO questions whether the “digital” sobriquet still holds meaning in 2015 In the US, 2015 will be defined by two major new dynamics: the death of the “digital” agency and the “Uberization” of marketing. An end to “digital” agencies. Here’s a secret: The best digital agencies can now do the same things that great creative agencies can do. Over the last few years, marketers have come to see their brands as being defined through digital interaction and are now thinking about everything they do in the context of the digital world we…

MAIN STREET BUSINESSES ARE QUICKLY LOSING THE BATTLE AGAINST DIGITAL SALES–BUT THERE MAY BE HOPE IF WE REINVENT THE WAY WE SEE AND USE STOREFRONTS. Haunting images of abandoned shopping malls seem to say something about the unstoppable decline of the analog shopping experience in an increasingly digital and mobile world. What e-commerce has done to physical shopping in the last decade mirrors what Barnes & Noble and other big-box retailers did to independent stores beginning in the mid-’90s. Back then, every independent bookseller had the same complaint: people would go to…

Aaron Shapiro, CEO of Huge, on why brands need to adapt now for voice user interfaces and the most important aspects to think about as they make the shift ‘Wearables’ and the inelegantly named ‘Internet of Things’ sit at the top of most digital trend lists these days, with prognosticators hyping everything from Google Glass to the Nest thermostat. But lost amidst the buzz is an important development for consumer technology that will affect how we interact with wearables, smart devices and our boring old smartphones. Voice recognition keeps getting better – Microsoft recently…

Aaron Shapiro is the CEO of the digital agency Huge. Pity the parent trying to do Disney World on the cheap these days. Last summer, Disney introduced MagicBands into the theme park experience. For starters, the RFID-enabled wristbands function as tickets, and as “FastPasses” to cut long lines and hotel room keys. But they also store personal information and preferences — meaning that Elsa from Frozen can approach a little girl knowing she is her favorite character and greet her by name. If it’s the girl’s birthday, she’ll know. The nearby gift shop attendant can steer the…

Featured Resource: 0Resource Thumbnail: Resource Summary: Find out how this locally owned and family operated store is increasing their sales and creating a seamless customer experience, making them the Shopatron Fulfillment Partner of the Month. Tags: fulfillment partnercustomer experienceretailerretailLocally owned and family operated, Fontana Sports has been providing outdoor clothing and equipment out of its Wisconsin-based stores for more than six decades, and it was that same customer-centric experience that elevated the store to be selected as the Shopatron…

Featured Resource: 0Resource Thumbnail: Resource Summary: Online-only retailers like Amazon don’t just want to expand into physical retail spaces, they need to. Find out how Amazon is using their new knowledge of the consumer demand for in-store experiences with a disruptive business decision. Years ago, RadioShack was the go-to place to pickup consumer electronics. Then came Amazon, which temporarily trumped the classic in-store experience with convenient and cheap online-only shopping. But now, with RadioShack in bankruptcy and a rising tide of omni-channel services, Amazon…

Featured Resource: 0Resource Thumbnail: Resource Summary: You have an amazing product that consumers want to buy. You have a trusted brand and credibility in the marketplace. However, in today’s competitive, omni-channel marketplace, is this enough to win sales? Tags: consumerconsumer experienceomni-channelomnichannelship from storeship to storein store pickuppickupinventoryorder fulfillmentorder routingstore fulfillmentcustomer experienceintegrationcategory: eCommerce Trends for BrandsYou have an amazing product that consumers want to buy. You have a trusted brand…

Featured Resource: 0Resource Thumbnail: Resource Summary: In 2014, we surveyed our retailer clients to find out how much of a sales bump omnichannel retailers saw when they offered cross-channel promotions (online and in-store) throughout Thanksgiving weekend and beyond. As it turned out, the numbers were impressive. Let’s face it. Black Friday in-store sales are not for everyone. While thousands of shoppers truly enjoy the energy and excitement of single-day, in-store holiday promotions each year, it’s not surprising that many others prefer the more laid back…

Featured Resource: 0Resource Thumbnail: Resource Summary: Find out how this locally owned and family operated store is increasing their sales and creating a seamless customer experience, making them the Shopatron Fulfillment Partner of the Month. Tags: fulfillment partnercustomer experienceretailerretailLocally owned and family operated, Fontana Sports has been providing outdoor clothing and equipment out of its Wisconsin-based stores for more than six decades, and it was that same customer-centric experience that elevated the store to be selected as the Shopatron…

Featured Resource: 0Resource Thumbnail: Resource Summary: Online-only retailers like Amazon don’t just want to expand into physical retail spaces, they need to. Find out how Amazon is using their new knowledge of the consumer demand for in-store experiences with a disruptive business decision. Years ago, RadioShack was the go-to place to pickup consumer electronics. Then came Amazon, which temporarily trumped the classic in-store experience with convenient and cheap online-only shopping. But now, with RadioShack in bankruptcy and a rising tide of omni-channel services, Amazon…

Featured Resource: 0Resource Thumbnail: Resource Summary: You have an amazing product that consumers want to buy. You have a trusted brand and credibility in the marketplace. However, in today’s competitive, omni-channel marketplace, is this enough to win sales? Tags: consumerconsumer experienceomni-channelomnichannelship from storeship to storein store pickuppickupinventoryorder fulfillmentorder routingstore fulfillmentcustomer experienceintegrationcategory: eCommerce Trends for BrandsYou have an amazing product that consumers want to buy. You have a trusted brand…

Featured Resource: 0Resource Thumbnail: Resource Summary: In 2014, we surveyed our retailer clients to find out how much of a sales bump omnichannel retailers saw when they offered cross-channel promotions (online and in-store) throughout Thanksgiving weekend and beyond. As it turned out, the numbers were impressive. Let’s face it. Black Friday in-store sales are not for everyone. While thousands of shoppers truly enjoy the energy and excitement of single-day, in-store holiday promotions each year, it’s not surprising that many others prefer the more laid back…

Now a days, store owners are much focused on making stores which are well equipped, highly smooth in terms of navigation and well designed. In effort to leverage all these facilities, they make use of customized themes to attract more… Read more › The post Solved: Custom Magento Theme issue for Magento Call for Price appeared first on Web, Ecommerce & Mobile Apps development company.

PHP has evolved like a rise of a new dawn in web development world and come a long way since its birth in the mid-1990’s. Its journey from modest beginnings to a swifter growth of being one of the most… Read more › The post History of PHP: Versions, Frameworks and popular sites appeared first on Web, Ecommerce & Mobile Apps development company.

Don’t forget the marketing in marketing Marketing is a critical part of any successful ecommerce business. While a multi-pronged approach is necessary for marketing any store, it’s crucial to first focus on your target market. Knowing who makes up this target market will help you get your message to them across all marketing channels – PPC, SEO, social media, email, affiliate, and any others you might target. In this post, I’m introducing you to customer personas and the process of identifying your ideal customer to better focus your marketing efforts. Ecommerce 101: 25 Terms Every…

10 questions every entrepreneur should ask before starting an ecommerce business The great thing about ecommerce is that you can start a business anywhere in the world once you pin down just the right idea or product. And with PrestaShop, you can do it right now, for free. But before launching any new business, there are a few big questions you should consider… PrestaShop was at the Salon des Entrepreneurs in Paris early February, where an estimated 65,000 future business owners came to learn from some of the world’s most successful startups and industry leaders. The PrestaShop stand was…

Google Analytics 101: What’s the hype with Google Analytics? If you’re in ecommerce, you’ve probably heard of Google Analytics (GA) from either your developer, designer or even through one of our newsletters. GA is one of the most powerful tools online and one thing that makes them so popular is that the standard version of their product is completely free to use. It’s the reason we integrated their functionality into the PrestaShop ecommerce software. You’re probably thinking, all that sounds good, but the question still remains, “What exactly is Google Analytics?” Today…

Omni Channel Pain Point No. 4 February 2015 Our pain point for February is one that we hear often from retailers, especially those selling on multiple channels: “I’m juggling inventory to avoid overselling a product.” The term ‘juggling’ is something you want to hear a clown say in reference to the bowling pins he’ll be tossing around at your son’s birthday party. ‘Juggling’ is definitely not something you want to hear from a retailer, specifically not from the person in charge of allocating inventory for a retail organization. Unfortunately, many retailers struggle to…

SalesWarp attended the National Retail Federation’s BIG Show last week in New York. There are big trade shows and then there are BIG TRADE SHOWS. NRF was definitely the latter. With thousands of retail professionals flooding the area around the Javits Center and two full floors devoted to the EXPO hall, NRF was the biggest trade show SalesWarp has attended so far, and a major event for the retail industry as a whole. We came prepared to hand out our signature “OmniChannel Pain Relief” bottles of M&M’s and talk to retailers about speeding up order fulfillment. We…

When retailers think about omnichannel order fulfillment, the complexities of all the different order, delivery, and return options may come to mind. With retailers molding their business to better serve customers whenever and wherever, it has never been more important that retailers have deployed order management software to facilitate turnaround time and better utilize all available resources. However, many retailers are not optimizing omnichannel fulfillment as they should. They do not have the visibility needed to succeed, nor do they have the ability to utilize cross-channel…

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave this past year (or a crevice with James Franco in 127 Hours – a great movie by the way if you haven’t see it), you have definitely seen how retailers are continuously striving to deliver that omnichannel experience customers expect. With the rapid improvement of eCommerce platforms, channel management software and order management systems to name a few, retailers have been able to accomplish this across their online channels, but in many instances, are still failing to incorporate the POS system, or in-store experience. This means that…

In three weeks I will hop on a train in Baltimore, bound for New York and the National Retail Federation’s annual Expo & Convention. Nicknamed ‘Retail’s BIG Show,’ this is definitely one of the biggest and most influential gatherings in retail, known for hi-tech demonstrations and a bird’s eye view of where the industry is going in the next year and beyond. This will be SalesWarp’s first year on the BIG expo floor and considering how quickly retail technology is advancing, I’m pretty excited to see what’s in store. The author vs. an Amazon robot invasion 2014 was a big…

The purchase process is something that is no longer simply done at a desktop computer. It can start with a quick search on a mobile phone, which leads to browsing by tablet and finally making the purchase at a desktop. So making sure your store is optimized to deliver the best possible experience through any device is important. Here are a few Volusion merchants who have made the switch and seen the successes to prove it. The ZigZag Stripe When it comes to women’s fashion large, beautiful photography is important. And women’s fashion boutique, The ZigZag Stripe, is hitting the nail on the…

Good entrepreneurs know there are always ways to grow their businesses … but great entrepreneurs understand the key to success is finding expansion opportunities where risk is low, and gains are high. For Volusion-powered online stores owners, that opportunity exists now, in an unlikely place: language. Imagine a version of your Volusion ecommerce store, presented in several languages, serving global & domestic markets, and appearing in relevant regional and international search engines. Take the greatest U.S.-based opportunity, the U.S. Hispanic market. There are more than 53 million…

Earlier this year, we launched an exciting contest for Volusion customers to boost their business in 2015. The contest, Let’s Grow Your Business Together, asked two main questions: 1) What is your biggest business goal for 2015? and 2) Why do you need help achieving that goal? After the entry period closed, we were pumped (and a little surprised) by the number of essays submitted – over 2,500 of you entered this contest. To each of you who took the time to write the essays, our sincerest thanks for sharing your stories with us. The judging panel had an extremely difficult decision, as…

Do you sell awesome products on your website, but fail to generate revenue? Are people making it to the first date by visiting your site, only to ditch you at the metaphorical internet coffee shop with the tab? Have you ever wondered why your ecommerce site (with-the-heart-of-gold) keeps getting friend-zoned? Boy, do I have the solution for you! It’s called UX and it’s going to change your website’s life. Cheesy and infomercial-esque dating references aside (don’t worry; there will be more), building an excellent user experience, or UX, is absolutely essential to running a successful…

Finish this sentence: “Back in my day…..” Now imagine that sentence posted on your site, or your Facebook account somewhere. That statement is going to be a big hit with those that identify with it – your generation — and get a collective rolling of the eyes from everyone who doesn’t “get it.” Speaking to the generational differences of your audience can help bridge the gap with your store and cement a common bond. Creating an online presence that understands and identifies with its customers is a powerful thing for your business. With an online store, your customer could be…

No matter what you sell, how you market your e-commerce site or how slick your website is, the service you provide customers will ultimately determine if they return to your store in the future. What’s more, bad customer service is no longer a matter between store and shopper: negative social media posts by someone who’s been burned can ruin an e-commerce business. Want your customers to love every step of their purchasing process? Here are some tools and techniques to keep in mind. 1. Be social-media savvy. More and more, customers are turning to social media to share what they…

When you start and run an e-commerce site, naturally you dedicate large chunks of your business day to essential tasks such as finding products to sell, website set-up and maintenance, photography and copywriting. But none of these elements mean anything without visitors to your site – and that’s where marketing comes in. Many new e-commerce sellers are intimidated at the thought of developing and implementing a marketing plan. Fortunately, tools like Google AdWords have made online marketing an intuitive platform that even beginners can use to help drive visitors to your site. Here’s…

If you’re a U.S.-based e-commerce seller, the new year brings with it goals, aspirations … and tax-preparation time. Tackle your 2014 taxes with less stress by following these six simple tips. Mark your calendar. Remember, individual and partnership tax returns are due April 15, 2015 (forms 1040 and 1065); check with the IRS to see you need to submit any additional documents prior to the deadline. Other important dates to remember: February 2 for Forms 1099 and W2 to be postmarked, and March 16 for corporate tax returns (forms 1120 and 1120S). Check your books, and organize those…

Your site stats show you’re getting visitors. So why aren’t you getting sales to match? If this sounds like your e-commerce site, you’re not alone. Many online stores struggle with converting browsers to buyers, but understanding the major “conversion killers” can help you find ways to turn browsers into customers. Killer #1: Bad site design. Make shopping on your site easy and pleasurable for your visitors with products that are easy to find and categorize. Arrange your listings carefully so shoppers can easily browse, and be sure your overall site theme is easy to navigate.

Many e-commerce sellers find email marketing to be a simple, quick and cost-effective way to promote their stores, and the best way to start is with a welcome message that draws in shoppers, introduces your products, and encourages them to browse and buy. Make your own welcome message grab the attention of your customers and stand out from the competition by keeping these 5 tips in mind. Tip 1: Pay attention to all the elements of your welcome message. Start with your subject line, which ideally should identify the name of your store and include an appealing reason for shoppers to click.

Marketing is a critical part of any successful ecommerce business. While a multi-pronged approach is necessary for marketing any store, it’s crucial to first focus on your target market. Knowing who makes up this target market will help you get your message to them across all marketing channels – PPC, SEO, social media, email, affiliate, and any others you might target. In this post, I’m introducing you to customer personas and the process of identifying your ideal customer to better focus your marketing efforts. Finding out who your customer is You must have heard the old marketing…

The great thing about ecommerce is that you can start a business anywhere in the world once you pin down just the right idea or product. And with PrestaShop, you can do it right now, for free. But before launching any new business, there are a few big questions you should consider… PrestaShop was at the Salon des Entrepreneurs in Paris early February, where an estimated 65,000 future business owners came to learn from some of the world’s most successful startups and industry leaders. The PrestaShop stand was crowded with visitors who came to learn about the new fully-hosted PrestaShop…

If you’re in ecommerce, you’ve probably heard of Google Analytics (GA) from either your developer, designer or even through one of our newsletters. GA is one of the most powerful tools online and one thing that makes them so popular is that the standard version of their product is completely free to use. It’s the reason we integrated their functionality into the PrestaShop ecommerce software. You’re probably thinking, all that sounds good, but the question still remains, “What exactly is Google Analytics?” Today we’ll explain Google Analytics in plain English, without using any…

Games, ebooks, movies, music, graphic designs and computer applications–these are just a few of the things you can now purchase online as digital products. We’ve invited Jimena Diaz de Vivar, owner of the PrestaShop store Dulzura de papel, to share her experience selling graphic design templates for themed party printables such as invitations, posters, napkins and food presentation details. Read the five benefits she shared with us if you’re considering selling your digital creations online–it might just be the perfect move for your business. Unlimited Stock Digital products…

As more and more customers being shopping online, ecommerce websites have popped up to support those shoppers. From monthly subscription boxes to homemade products, all types of online shops have opened. And with each shop that opens, a new need is created – one for industry related services. Payment processing is one example of those services. Today there are countless payment processors to choose from. But how do you know what to look for? To help you narrow down your options, we share the 3 must-have features in a great payment processor. Mobile Optimized Payment Page Did you know that…

Crowdfunding platforms now allow entrepreneurs to raise money for a new product idea before they’ve put in the money to manufacture it. But is the time and effort worth it? What if it fails? In this episode we explore how crowdfunding is more than just about raising money and some pros/cons to the process as Terry goes through the preparations. Topics Discussed: Events and backstory leading up to this campaign How it’s easy to underestimate cost of acquisition The patron model and how it evolved into crowdfunding Is crowdfunding a +EV play? Validation, lead generation, and…

Travis was in Bangkok last week and mentioned he used Couchsurfing for his accommodation. We got into a small debate on why that was a good (or bad) idea, and evolved that into an episode on the things we value paying for in the modern world. Everyone’s value system may be different, and this was an introspective look on our beliefs about money, relationships, and business. Topics Discussed: Our take on conferences, meet-ups, 1-on-1 lunches, and events. How much should you spend on clothes and image based purchases? Books and investing in yourself Investing in tech and devices Catch-22…

Travis is on the road this week on a mini-vacation so we decided to do an episode on the top locations for digital nomads and e-commerce entrepreneurs in 2015. If you’re looking to pack up and head overseas for a bit, here are some tips and a general overview of each location based on folks we’ve met in those hubs. Keep in mind your mileage may vary depending on your lifestyle and business requirements. Topics Discussed: The “whisper” of a city and it’s message Three tiers of locations: Bootstrap, Value, Premium Bootstrap: Medellin, Saigon, Chiang Mai, Davao,…

This week Terry has a Q&A with Travis on Facebook Ad targeting, optimization, and setup. Having just started a few campaigns, we go over some best practices, tracking results, and how to make the most out of the platform. It’s quite a technical episode, and we are assuming you’ve at least tried Facebook Ads once and understand what the backend looks like. Travis is also in Bangkok and Singapore this month starting from Feb 12th, so reach out to him if you’d like to meet up. Topics Discussed: Targeting: Audience size, demographics, and overall strategy Broad vs.

New post from eCommerceFuel: Joining me back on The eCommercefuel Podcast is Bill D’Alessandro to discuss both of our biggest eCommerce Wins. A few weeks ago, I shared my personal biggest mistakes and regrets in my eCommerce businesses; so now, we jump to the flip side to talk about our biggest success stories. Listen in as Bill and I share not only what we feel was our biggest successes are, but how we were able to achieve them and how you too can achieve similar wins in your business. From finally utilizing email marketing, to raising prices and getting your products on Amazon Prime,…

New post from eCommerceFuel:Here, on The eCommerceFuel podcast, we have often discussed exporting goods from other parts of the world and even running our businesses from anywhere with an internet connection. From episode 57 with Andrew Henderson of NomadCapitalist.com to episode 47 with Austin Brawner of eCommerceInfluence.com, this is a topic we have explored thoroughly. My guest today, however, is one that has acted upon these ideas and made them a reality. Paul Lepa is a Canadian-born business owner, who, while working for another company, moved to China to work with several of his big…

New post from eCommerceFuel:Ben Jenkins is a collection of conflicting stereotypes. He’s a retired baseball player with a degree from the Art Institute in Chicago. He’s a southern gentleman who occasionally cusses. He loves to smoke a pipe but is a total health nut. He’s intimidatingly cool, but just wants to hang out with his wife and three sons. “There’s a stigma that you can’t be creative and an athlete,” he laughs, “but both sides always appealed to me.” “I’m like a design monkey”, says Ben Jenkins who is currently hard at work in his Dallas, Texas studio with his…

New post from eCommerceFuel: Bill D’Alessandro is joining me this week to review the biggest stories of the past month in the eCommerce world. Bill and I also spend some times discussing how OrderCircle is progressing and Bill’s latest eCommerce acquisition. Join us as Bill and I discuss five of the biggest eCommerce stories that are making headlines (or will be soon) this month. We share our opinions on everything from where we believe Amazon is headed, and why we don’t believe they always have the lowest prices, to how to organize your businesses if you, like Bill and I, have…

New post from eCommerceFuel: Returning to the eCommerce Fuel Podcast for the first time since Episode 4 (way back in August of 2013 – wow!), is Steve Chou. Steve is one of those rare entrepreneurs who, through a ton of hard work from both him and his wife, was able to replace her salary of $100K within one year, making it possible for her to quit her job to stay home and raise their kids. Since then, Steve has branched into just about everything, from a course to a podcast and affiliate marketing, all while running his eCommerce store AND working his 9-5 job. Today, Steve and I are…

Online retailers and consumers in the Nordics now can use another service for invoice payments. After the huge success of Klarna, it’s time for Avarda, a joint venture from Intrum Justitia and TF Bank. It aims to become the leading provider of payment solutions for online purchases in the Nordic countries. With Avarda’s service offering, online merchants are able to receive payments instantly while offering consumers the opportunity to pay through invoice, installments or revolving accounts. The service can be used white-label, so “online merchants can communicate directly…

EDI-Soft, a software developer and provider from the Nordics, is planning to become market leader in digitizing delivery and shipping in China. Because shipments of parcels are still largely treated manually in China, EDI-Soft thinks now is the right time for them to make an entry into the Chinese market. China could be the next huge ecommerce market. It’s in rapid economic development, but according to EDI-Soft the delivery industry over there does not follow the same pace. “In China, shipments of parcels are largely treated manually, and delivery and shipment are not digitized…

One German ecommerce startup after another is expanding its business to Asia. In less than a month time, fashion e-tailer Mytheresa, online discounter Lesara, property portal Lamudi and price comparison startup Run a Shop have announced they soon will be operating in Asia. Run a Shop, a Berlin-based ecommerce publisher and price comparison startup, announced its expansion into Asia in January. In India it has started the price comparison portal Salefire.in. Although Run a Shop is already present in twenty countries, it’s the first time they have entered the Asian market. In an interview…

Three in four consumers in Belgium still like to try, touch or see the products they want to buy. Even if purchasing it online would be cheaper. And when it comes to clothing and shoes, no less than 90% of consumers likes to try on the products offline rather than look for it online. This is apparent from a study conducted by Haystack, who surveyed 1,500 Belgian consumers. The fact 77% of the respondents likes webrooming (researching online, but shopping offline) is due to a “natural reflex”, Haystack’s managing partner Wim Hamaekers says. “But the Belgian shopper is…

Entrepreneur Peter Jones, who is a panelist on Dragons’ Den and American Inventor, has combined several of his companies into one big international ecommerce venture. Brandpath is the new holding company for his firms Data Select, Expansys, DSNS and PJ Media. It’s an end-to-end solution which handles every step of the customer journey. According to Mobile News it took Peter Jones six months to create the new holding company as well as a six-figure IT upgrade. But now the company is live, international expansions awaits. By combining the assets of Data Select (distribution),…

0 1 0 0 0 0 0 Among 9 from 10 eCommerce shoppers are interested in products rather than its usefulness. We have seen such types of customers, who want to purchase products from companies that have compelling and meaningful story. People eagerly want to know about from whom they are purchasing products and providing financial account details. For that purpose, they explore about us page to know even minor information of eCommerce merchants. At the time of writing ‘About us’, you have to ensure to deliver the honest story of your company. You should highlight various elements of your…

0 1 0 1 0 0 0 A powerful eCommerce website solution Shopify enables people to sell online by offering everything that they require to develop a high-end e-store. Being the best eCommerce platform, Shopify helps small merchants to set-up their online stores without any hassle, and it is considered as one of the number-one services for doing so. Today, the platform has gained huge popularity on the web as it has partnered with a lot of different retailers to provide a seamless experience offline and online. The Shopify Manual has everything that you are looking forward to building your shopify…

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 We have seen some things that are more frustrating for your business rather than looking potential customer move towards your rivals. There are business knowing that this is happening with them, however, they are unable to recognize that why they are losing sales to their rivals. Potential customers are surrendered by online business to rivals as they don’t an optimized conversion funnel that effortlessly leads users from the starting discovery of their brands to an authentic conversion objective. Thus, users are moving towards another site that have better understanding of…

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A periodic table for content marketing is an important to create. The first periodic table of elements is created by Dmitri Mendeleev in the direction of Danny Sullivan, who has created one based around SEO success factors. This created table is divided into different types of content marketing and explained in various steps in the marketing process. Use enough time to define a strategy Understand the formats you plan on using. Consider your content types that grab attention of your audience. Do research. Sketch Ideas and Develop Spread your content across the key content…

When a company is valued at $3.76 billion, it can be a challenge to relate to and learn from their journey to success. For app-based transportation network and taxi company Uber, however, this is not the case. In just five years, Uber has grown substantially from its (not so humble) beginnings as a luxury car service in San Francisco in 2009, and now operates in 35 countries, employs over 300 people, and is valued at $3.76 billion. One tap of the app and Bob’s your uncle, Uber hails your taxi and delivers it to you in under 8 minutes, eliminating the usual transportation troubles. What is…

Valentine’s Day offers e-commerce stores the perfect opportunity to sell-sell-sell. Whether you stock intimate undies or tongue-and-cheek anti-Valentine’s cards, now is the time to get your house in order. There are plenty of banana skins out there, so you can’t assume everything will simply fall into place. If you own an online store, making the most of Valentine’s Day takes time, preparation and hard work. If you need a few tips to get started, here are five e-commerce tips that will help you win the hearts of your customers… Devote your homepage to matters of the heart Your…

One topic of discussion that I regularly have with clients is regarding their pricing structure. Should they be cheaper than their direct competitor? Should they raise their price as it’s Christmas? The answer is simple: opt for flexible, dynamic pricing – a strategy that many online retailers are beginning to adopt The truth is, no two retailers offer the same customer experience and added value. Where one retailer can get away with offering a rock bottom price with next to no customer service and cheap, slow shipping, another will sell items at a higher price whilst comforting…

It is still very common for luxury brands to attempt to apply unique forms of branding to their online space. Unfortunately, what many high-end brands simply don’t realise is that this is often at the expense of user experience and search engine value. I’ve selected the common issues below as a point of reference for leading luxury businesses looking to increase their exposure online. Ultimately, the below examples intimate that by trying to be so exclusively different, many brands are failing to deliver an acceptable website experience for the customers. 1.Loose terminology It is…

There’s no doubting that social media now plays an important part in the digital marketing campaigns of businesses across the world – from start-ups to global conglomerates. The chance to reach out to your target demographic, personalise your brand and encourage customer loyalty; it all sounds great, but how do you find out which social channels work best for you? Is it really proving beneficial to your business? To deliver a successful social media campaign you need to have the resource to give your strategy time to resonate and breathe. There’s no point going in half-baked;…

We are happy to announce that Spark::red is an official sponsor for Oracle Industry Connect that will take place in Washington DC on March, 25-26. This year’s conference will bring together over 1,500 executives with nearly a third of them representing retailers that use Oracle products. With multiple custom-lead sessions as well as networking opportunities, the conference is the perfect place to learn from your peers and industry experts. Nordstrom, lululemon, ULTA, John Lewis are just a few examples of retailers that will share their success stories during the event. Are you…

I’ve been eyeing up the ATG Commerce Reference Store’s native iOS app ever since it was added with Commerce Reference Store (CRS) 10. It’s not too bad, and proves the point that Oracle Commerce/ATG can be ported into mobile environments. Here are the steps I took to get the app completely functional. This is a continuation of my last blog post on the installation of Oracle Commerce 11.1 with the Commerce Reference Store. You can find the Oracle documentation on this installation here. Note: You will need an Apple computer with xcode installed. The mobile app differs from traditional…

The Commerce Reference Store (CRS) is an important part of Oracle Commerce/ATG because it is a fully functional implementation that is rich in features, and a reference for how to do things for many projects. I originally wrote a blog post on installing CRS with ATG 10, but thought I’d make an update for ATG 11.1. With Endeca thrown into the mix, it has certainly gotten more complicated, but also easier in a way because of the large Endeca community. I’d highly recommend battling through the installation of the whole stack by yourself if you’re looking to learn more about the…

Build-A-Bear Workshop is a global interactive entertainment retailer with nearly 400 stores all over the world with an engaging commerce-based website. Its website experienced occasional outages and slowness with the previous managed hosting provider that impacted the retailer’s conversion rate. The site buildabear.com was relaunched with Spark::red in October 2012. From the very beginning, it became clear that the new website performed better and was able to support the retailer’s projected online growth. With Spark::red, Build-A-Bear pushed multiple releases prior to the holiday season…

ATG/Oracle Commerce modules are simply functional parts of an application that have been given their own organization and identifier. With a large e-commerce project, it might be split into the following modules: Storefront (primarily jsps and config only) Mobile (primarily jsps and config only) Custom ATG code Search Integrations This is highly-dependent on the software integrator in charge of the application development. ATG/Oracle Commerce itself is mostly just a collection of modules. Some notable examples are: DAF (Dynamo Application Framework) – Responsible for Nucleus and other…

Alan Kent, the Magento Chief Architect, has published this presentation (presented at Meet Magento NY 2014, that gives an extensive overview of Magento 2. Some of the main highlights of this presentation are: It uses a modern tech stack, including PHP 5.4/5.5, jQuery, Require.JS, Less, HTML 5, CSS 3, MySQL, Composer, Varnish Cache and Redis It has increased performance and scalability by means of redis and Varnish Cache It makes use of Docker, an open platform for distributed applications (it helps cloud scalability) It makes use of dependency injection to encourage loose code coupling Uses…

Social Shopping, or Social Commerce, still represents one of the most used marketing tactics for retailers, but due to the lack of knowledge and experience, in most cases the results are not according to the expectations. Trueship has just published a really great infographic with the actual state of Social Shopping, and the main remarks of this infographic are: 75% Twitter users makes at least one purchase per month, which is higher than the 67% of internet users overall 74% shoppers rely on Social Media to get more information or reviews about the products they want to buy It is expected…

[Guest post by Amanda Cline from Xicom Technologies] E-commerce is a big business and has been dictating trends incredibly. E-commerce websites have been around for a while now and have really made an unconventional leap when it comes to claiming their fame among their users. It’s easy to become the part of an online retail space. With so many themes, extensions, and platform choices available, one can easily start selling products and services online. But, if you want something robust in less investment then you have two options: Shopify and WooCommerce. In this article, I am…

[Guest post by Maria Mincey from Xicom Technologies] The proliferation of online retail space has resulted in a tremendous increase in the way online players are planning their expansion to render a delightful customer experience. A Deeper understanding of the consumer needs and website management have become a key requirement for any e-commerce site owner. Since, customers are becoming sophisticated and more interested in innovative products and customized services, website owners need to put additional efforts to enhance customer retention and thus improve their sales. These days there are…

[Guest post by Graeme Caldwell from Nexcess] Mobile eCommerce is likely to become the dominant online shopping experience. Magento’s responsive eCommerce design is the optimal mobile eCommerce solution. Just a few years ago, mobile eCommerce wasn’t on most retailers radar. The world has changed. Smartphones and tablets are everywhere. The post-PC hype may have been overdone, but there’s no doubt customers will browse and shop on the device they have to hand, and that’s increasingly likely to have a screen smaller that the traditional PC and rely on touch for navigation. There are…

For ecommerce websites a high bounce rate isn’t something to be ignored. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that leave your site after viewing only one page. Visitors can leave in a variety of ways: by hitting the back button, closing the browser window, clicking on a link to an external site or even typing a link into the address bar. In most cases a high bounce rate is undesirable as website owners want a visitor to continue onto a further page in order to achieve a ‘goal’. This goal could either be to make a purchase, download a…

Ever had one of your products feature on the telly? Perhaps you’ve had something appear in a lifestyle show for gardening or home improvements. Fantastic PR if you can get it! Your product up in lights means people will want it, and if it’s the right placement at the right time – you’ll get a surge in sales. Imagine the feeling if you got a product into a movie, or even better – a Hollywood blockbuster. A huge achievement, right? Once in a lifetime perhaps, if you’re lucky. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to product placement…

Since its formation in 2005, YouTube has gone on to become the undisputed king of online video platforms with over one billion monthly users. Whilst they’re close to celebrating their 10th birthday and still very much enjoying success, another contender has been nipping at their heels. In recent years Facebook has evolved into much more than just a social network. Their acquisitions of WhatsApp and Oculus Rift amongst others shows that they are taking expansion into other areas very seriously and no area more so than the online video marketplace. The first signs of this change in direction…

I often write articles around the inner workings of Google AdWords, you name it, I have probably covered it at some point during my career, after all Google AdWords and Google Analytics is my specialised subject, plus it is a lot more interesting than my second specialised subject – SEO. However, after trawling through some of my past articles I realised that I very rarely cover the subject of Google Analytics. In my attempts to rectify this, here are 3 Google Analytic Reports that should help you improve your Google AdWords campaign. 1. Landing Pages Report – One of the most…

When you think Apple you think innovation. They’re always one step ahead of the game, leaving competitors picking up whatever crumbs of the market share’s left. This is no accident however, Apple have a strong business culture stemming from the late Steve Jobs who made sure he set aside a fair share of the annual corporate budget for the Research and Development Team. This culture still lives strong today as demonstrated by the launch of Apple Pay. What Is It? Apple Pay is a mobile payment method which allows Apple users to make payments online or in-store through their Apple device.

Most emails sent by online retailers are universal and undifferentiated: the same message is sent to everyone, more or less. And with the majority of digital marketing channels having very low variable costs (it doesn't cost much more to send 1000 emails than to send one), this approach - of carpet-bombing subscribers and customers - used to be considered a 'can't lose' strategy. But, of course, it isn't. Every time a customer receives a marketing message they're not interested in, they lose a bit of respect for that brand, they are a little less unlikely to open their next message and are…

Website headers. Sure, they might not be the most glam part of ecommerce store design, but they’re arguably one of the most valuable pieces of on-site real estate going. Why? They’re often one of the first things a visitor sees when they land on your site, and play an important role in making a killer first impression for newbies to your brand, as well as performing a navigational function that’s crucial to moving browsers on through the journey to purchase. So yeah, pretty important. This blog post will walk you through several key elements of ecommerce header design: Primary…

Let’s face it, product pages are often more functional than fetching. It’s understandable: when you’re building and testing pages that are geared towards selling, the overall 'feel' of a product page - creating that killer first impression - can sometimes take a backseat to cramming in all of the elements you think should be there to encourage a purchase: social sharing buttons, big calls to action, shipping information, product images and videos etc. (LingsCars.com on the right being an extreme example of this!). And while undoubtedly many of these elements are crucial in…

Conferences and events provide a great opportunity to network, learn new things and scope out the competition (or a combination of all of these things!). Below is a comprehensive list of all the ecommerce events for the year ahead - giving you the full lowdown on the what, when, where and how much. Think we've missed anything important? Let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page!

It is now widely acknowledged (and proven) that email is one of the best channels for ecommerce marketers to grow and engage with their customer base. According to American Express, the reason email works so well as a B2C communication tool is that consumers are firmly in control of it: they decide whether they want to read it, delete it or unsubscribe for good. And it is this power that (somewhat unconsciously) encourages visitors to sign up to ecommerce newsletters if they specifically like your products, and they want to take advantage of an incentive you’re offering. Having said that,…

When it comes to selling online, the first question that does(and should) come to mind is what to sell online! It’s quite probably the hardest part of starting a store, and if this step is executed correctly, you’ve already won half of the battle. However, picking something to sell online is kind of like playing […]

This is a guest post by Dennis Moons. Dennis is an experienced adwords marketer, and he has also written a really nice post on r/entrepreneur which you can see here. I really liked what Dennis had to say in the reddit post, so when he approached me for a guest post, I didn’t hesitate at […]

Ecommerce has evolved from the simple cart-checkout of the 1990s to a booming ecosystem full of apps and addons that enhance your selling and your buyer’s buying experience. When Fish Finder Source used to be an online store, it was running on Bigcommerce. I chose Bigcommerce for that particular store because I was going to […]

This is a guest post by Travis Newton, the Commerce Dude When it comes to ecommerce or business in general people tend to think “Hey, I’ll come up with a kick ass business plan, research the market, put up my store and I’ll make money by the truck load.” Now I’m not saying not to […]

I’ve been at this for quite a while now. I think I’ve been working on building full-fledged ecommerce businesses for at least 3 years, and I’ve been documenting what I’ve learned and am learning for a little over a year. That and by following other thought leaders in the ecommerce and online business space, I’ve […]

It’s no secret that worldwide eCommerce sales continues to be on a strong and steady upward curve since the beginning of the decade, as illustrated by the following infographic about US and European eCommerce created from my friends over at Ecommerce Platforms. Some Quick Stats: The US eCommerce sales volume, recorded at $176 billion in 2010, is estimated to grow to $279 billion by the end of 2015. The total online sales held an 8% market share of the total retail sales in 2014 and this too is projected to increase to reach between 9 and 11% in 2015. Similarly, the eCommerce sales…

Can you define brevity? Can you use brevity in a sentence? Do you even know what brevity is? I’ll admit, I initially thought it had something to do with bravery. Dang it, I’m dumb. Actually, brevity refers to using exact and concise wording to convey a thought. Think, short, specific, and to the point. And no, I wasn’t trying to insult your intelligence. Just demonstrating brevity by using it in a couple of sentences. I’m attempting to write this entire post with brevity in mind. Okay, so we’ve got that down. What in the hell does that have to do with SEO? Well,…

Wondering How To Improve Your eCommerce Conversion Rate? I can’t think of a better way to increase sales than via conversions. Optimizing your site for better conversions means more sales with the same amount of traffic. That’s pretty sweet if you ask me! My friends over at Spring Metrics are experts at this sort of thing. They know how increase eCommerce revenue by boosting conversions. This is a contribution from their head of marketing, Sean Godier. Hope you find it as useful and informative as I did. 4 Ways to Boost Conversion Rate with Personalization eCommerce…

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’re no-doubt aware that eCommerce is growing by leaps and bounds globally. The impact of this massive growth is such that, in the United States alone, profits from eCommerce are expected to cross 434 billion US dollars by 2017, at the bare minimum. The primary objective of eCommerce web design is to convert visitors in to potential buyers, and finally to generate profits. Moreover, customers are strapped for time and can’t afford to endlessly hunt through a website to find what they’re looking for. So, eCommerce sites have to function fast…

I have long thought that the attention given to cart abandonment rates is misguided. It seems as though most marketers see an abandoned shopping cart as an intent to purchase which, for any number of potential reasons, was stopped. They assume that, for some reason, the customer must have decided they were unwilling or unable to complete a purchase. I don’t see it that way. Thinking like a customer, and reflecting on my own online shopping habits, I can’t accept that. Sure, this is the case with many abandoned carts. I don’t deny that this is the case a lot of the…

Registration for March’s Blogging U. courses is now closed, and both courses have started. Check back later in the month to learn more and register for April’s offerings! Blogging 101: Zero to Hero — March 2 – 20 Blogging 101 is three weeks of bite-size assignments that take you from “Blog?” to “Blog!” Every weekday, you’ll get a new assignment to help you publish a post, customize your blog, or engage with the community. Whether you’re just getting started or want to revive a dormant blog, we’ll help you build blogging habits and…

Happy Theme Thursday, all! Let’s dive right into a new free theme: Lyretail Designed by Mel Choyce, Lyretail is a stunning visual treat for your personal site. The theme puts your social presence front and center, displaying social links prominently below the site’s title and logo, so readers can easily find you on your favorite social networks. Secondary information, like a Custom Menu or Widgets, are tucked behind a convenient slide-down menu, while bold featured images grace the header, putting your photographs front and center. Read more about Lyretail on the Theme Showcase,…

WordPress for iOS version 4.8 comes with exciting editor and navigation enhancements. Visual Editor We’re thrilled to announce that the 4.8 release includes a beautiful new visual editor. With the new editor, you can add rich text like bold, italics, links, and lists naturally as you type. You can also insert images with a tap, seeing real-time uploading progress and images right in the post. Before New Editor App users have long wished for a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) editor on iOS. Until now, a rich mobile editing experience on the iOS app was reserved for those…

Over at The Daily Post, our first poetry-focused Blogging U. course, Writing 201: Poetry, has just entered its second week. It’s been a blast, with hundreds of poets sharing their work, experimenting with new forms, and commenting on their peers’ poems. After working hard on polishing their elegies, haiku, and ballads, most writers want to make sure their readers can enjoy their work to the fullest. This is where choosing the right theme can play an important role (this is true for non-poets too, of course): you want your posts to be readable, clean, and inviting. Here…

Several years ago, writer Ann Morgan noticed that she didn’t read much literature from countries outside of the United Kingdom and United States — and had yet to dive into stories from around the globe. From this realization, her blog, A Year of Reading the World, was born. You can read about Ann’s journey in her new book, Reading the World: Confessions of a Literary Explorer, available now in the UK. (The US version, The World Between Two Covers, will be released on May 4.) I chatted with Ann about the blog-to-book journey and her experience of reading and blogging about…

A recent post by my colleague Scott Regan brings recent store closings to attention. This should come as no surprise to anyone that’s been watching the trends (in fact, I wrote about this a while back and it’s something Scott and I have discussed frequently). Brick-and-mortar retail has been declining in certain sectors for the past few years.To be fair, however, other physical retail sectors are experiencing some growth. But how interesting is it that some of those sectors include retailers that started out as “online only” and are know expanding into the physical retail…

Now that the dust has settled on 2014, retailers big and small are thinking about what will happen this year. The rate of change is only increasing, thanks to a constant influx of new information, new companies, and new competitors. So what do I think this year will bring? Here are a few of my eCommerce predictions for 2015: Apple Pay will drive mobile payment expansion: I talked about mobile payments in my predictions for 2014, but Apple Pay will be a game changer in 2015. Take Whole Foods success, for example. Even though they already accepted Google Wallet, Whole Foods saw a 400%…

“It’s January. Were you expecting sunshine and unicorns?” While I’m used to hearing this response from salty New Englanders when I dare complain about our lousy winter weather, it’s also become a de-facto response from many retail experts when discussing what has become an annual event for commerce: a slew of brick-and-mortar stores closings right after the holidays.I’ve noticed many local news stations have been quick to label recent store closings as “More Bad News for Retail!”. But most forward-thinking retailers will beg to differ. The fact is, the majority of these…

Over the past 40 years, I've experienced technology development in many different environments. It all started with meager beginnings in a Denver middle school. It was there that I first used a TTY-33 to dial-in to an HP2000F timeshare using a rotary phone and an acoustic-couple modem. After learning BASIC, I moved on to Assembly, Pascal, C, C++, and Java, through the days of client-server and onto where we are today, picking up experience with other languages along the way. It's certainly been an interesting time to be someone interested in technology.So where are we today? A lot of folks…

Today marks a new beginning for Optaros, as we announce the acquisition of our company by MRM//McCann, a global customer experience-marketing agency and part of the Interpublic Group (IPG). This announcement comes at an exciting time and as CEO of Optaros, I am more energized than ever about the power and possibilities that innovative digital solutions can bring to brands and retailers. Together, MRM//McCann and Optaros now offer companies a comprehensive suite of tools, technologies, and services to engage shoppers throughout the entire consumer lifecycle. This begins with customer…

We are pleased to announce one of our newest customers, MyLife. MyLife is an online service that helps people protect their privacy, reputation and identity against stalkers, thieves and others with malicious intentions; it’s like an online body guard! Since Generation Y spends over 50 days a year on the Internet, we see the real world application for this service. Photo credit: mylife.com Founded in LA in 2012, MyLife started to outgrow their American roots and wanted a payment gateway that could foster sales and subscription revenue outside of the US as well. Luckily we were there…

As a business owner, there is always one question on your mind: how am I going to grow my business? Sometimes it’s not always the easiest question to answer. There are many ways to grow a business, however, as the world is becoming flatter and flatter, there is an increasingly large opportunity for businesses who expand globally (in fact, it is a 4 trillion dollar growth opportunity!). Making your business internationally friendly is a step in the right direction for those who are looking to grow their businesses. Now you might be thinking, okay, but where do I start? Luckily for you,…

Interested in how you can make your subscription services even better? All aboard our subscription optimization engine! For those of you who have subscriptions implemented in your business model, you understand that creating subscription services is a marathon, not a sprint. Setting up subscriptions that will be successful for both you and your customers is often a lengthy, multi-step process that needs to be carefully experimented with and analyzed. To help you get to your final destination in this process, BlueSnap has created a high-speed train for you to get on to reach full subscription…

We have recently announced our plans to open an office in Chicago. The windy city will officially have a new global payment gateway right in its famous Wicker Park neighborhood. We are also sensing the irony here considering our office will be located above the Wormhole Café, which houses its very own Delorean (the car from Back to the Future). Maybe we are more like Marty McFly and Doc Brown than we thought! Payment predictions anyone? We’d like you to meet the first four fearless employees of this office, who have a combined experience of over 20 years of selling in the payment space.

From the desk of our very own Peter Caparso: As winter settles in and the days grow colder and darker, a faction of the US population look to a small town roughly 90 miles northeast from Pittsburgh to see if the warmer weather will be returning soon. As the story goes, if Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his warm burrow and sees his shadow, winter will continue for six more weeks. If it is cloudy, then the US will enjoy an early spring. Our furred friend has seen his shadow 99 times out of the last 114 years which usually results in him going back underground and sleeping until the spring shows…

So we tried the name ‘eCommerce Growth Hack of The Week’ for this growth hacking series but it turned out to be too long. We’ve shortened it to Growth Hack Mondays for now, but I’m still all ears if you’ve got a better name for the series. Anyway, on to the actual post. This week’s growth hack, as the title suggests, is all about boosting demand for your physical product by selling, or giving away, digital products. A digital product can be a book, an audio file, a video, or even a software. Anything that your customer can download and access instantly. But…

For all you Apple fans out there, you’re going to love this week’s Funnel Fridays. Today we’re looking at the conversion funnels of two eCommerce stores selling Apple related products. First up, we have Nordic Appeal, a Danish retailer of Macbook and iMac accessories. Next we have Bite My Apple, an eCommerce store featuring iPhone and iPad gadgets that started on Kickstarter. As always, we have a Conversion Rate Optimization expert with us. This time it’s Dragos Dragusin from Marketizator. One of his recent A/B tests was picked as a Silver Winner at The Best Online…

Open a store in minutes and start accepting orders instantly. Sounds great, doesn’t it? That’s the lure of eCommerce. In the old days, if you were selling something, you were limited to your local vicinity. Today, if you have a website, anyone in the world can find you and buy your products. That’s why, when business owners see ads from eCommerce platforms claiming how easy it is to launch an online store, they tend to get sucked in. They see how easy it is to create a site, and they associate that with creating a business. Yes, you can sign up for a store in…

Every time there’s a new Apple product out you can be sure of one thing. There’s going to be a whole bunch of people posting videos of themselves with the latest iSomething and unboxing them for the first time. It sounds a little silly, doesn’t it? Who cares about some unknown guy opening up an iPhone box. Well, as it turns out, lots of people do. Just go to YouTube and search for the word ‘unboxing’. You’ll get over 20 million results! These are just videos of consumers opening up boxes of products that they recently bought. They may not be as popular as…

Welcome back to another edition of #FunnelFridays! Every Friday we bring on a Conversion Rate Optimization expert and do a funnel review of eCommerce store. If you want to catch up on some of our previous editions, go here. This time we have Luiz Centenaro with us. You might recognize Luiz from his exceptional post on how to track cart abandonment in Google Analytics. Luiz also does consulting for Experiment Engine. In this edition, we will be looking at the conversion funnels for Thuggies and ShadesDaddy. Thuggies is a Vancouver retailer of designer hoodies, and ShadesDaddy is a retailer…

We’ve made quite some product improvements during January and February. These improvements relate to: The Chat Widget The Chat Panel Integrations I. Chat Widget Improvements Eyecatcher - For your Webvisitors to experience your amazing online service, they must first be aware that you offer it. For those who want to stress that they are offering Live Chat, you can now add an Eyecatcher to your Chat Button. This feature can be enabled in the Design tab of your Widget Editor. Widget Profiles - The different settings for your Chat Widget are there because everyone has his or her own objectives…

One thing is clear: the way people do business nowadays has changed dramatically. Not only in the sheer amount of daily transactions, also in the type, speed and method. Online transactions are bigger than ever and their scale covers the whole spectrum, from small online shops to large public procurement. However there is one thing which hasn’t lost its importance: the need for businesses to develop and sustain personal relationships with their customers. The bond between consumers and brands can make a real difference when it comes to customer preferences: it induces loyalty and helps you…

For small businesses wanting to sell products online, the regulatory hoops that you’re required to jump through if you need to take payment cards can be somewhat daunting. However, if you don’t comply, then you risk a hefty fine and even having the ability to take cards taken away from the business. Card payments online are regulated by the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) and there are 12 requirements for compliance which come under the following summary headings: Build and maintain a secure business network Protect cardholder data Maintain a vulnerability…

Userlike is happy to announce our partnership with Ecommerce Foundation. The launch is supported by Ecommerce Europe, the Brussels-based association representing 25.000+ B2C companies that sell products and services online to consumers. The mission of the non-profit Ecommerce Foundation is to realize e-commerce related research, reports and benchmarks on a collective basis. Ecommerce Foundation wants to give actors in Ecommerce the possibility to develop practical knowledge by combining common goals and efforts. Userlike is happy to partner with a party that pushes for accessible Ecommerce…

Are your landing pages designed with your customers in mind or are they self-centered?It’s easy to get wrapped up in your own sales goals and create a website that seems great to you but leaves potential customers feeling cold.High converting landing pages are designed with your target audience in mind. You need to meet their needs and expectations to offer a more compelling experience. What is Customer Centricity and Why is it so Important? As the name implies, customer centricity is all about focusing your marketing efforts on your clients’ needs and interests.

Did you know that 78% of companies are not happy with their conversion rate? (That’s what econsultancy found out)Yep, that’s right. You are not alone!Even if you rule out those never-satisfied people, it’s still pretty fair to say that most of us suck at convincing people to click our buttons and fill-in our forms. Or at least think we suck.Don’t you just wish you could catch your website visitors before they leave your website, look them in the eyes and ask them “WHY?” “Why won’t you buy my product?”.But you can’t do that……

Have you ever wondered how different the world would be, if some famous people had the technological know-how we currently possess? Well, what if the said famous people had Live chat to solve their problems. Read on, to find out.Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and not a subject to be taken seriously. 1. Christopher Columbus Don’t you just hate it when you set sail to India to find the riches, claim some land, and find a way to convert the infidels, and you stumble upon America, and not even the mainland?! It’s the…

Did you know that 68% of customers leave because they feel the company is indifferent to them? Not because of slow service, not because they found a better price somewhere else, but because they don’t feel appreciated.And you know what? That’s awesome news for us, smaller businesses! We can easily use this to compete with even the biggest and richest corporations.Simply because for once, we have an advantage over them. We do care about our customers. We notice when they share our content, our heart breaks a little when they unsubscribe from our newsletter (or maybe I’m being too…

This article is a guest contribution from Shep Hyken Do you spend more time than you would like on the phone dealing with bad customer service?According to an article by Brian O’Connell in The Street, statistics show that the average adult in the United States spends 364 minutes on the phone every year waiting … and hoping … to talk to someone who can correct their bad experience.That’s nearly six and a half hours.Over the course of just six years, you would lose almost an entire 40-hour work week, or over 25 years, a month of your life is taken up waiting on the…

Let’s examine how a scientific approach to split testing increased conversion rate by nearly 7% for one company, producing $650,000 incremental revenue per year. While the concept of testing may seem easy, we all know that it takes a lot of preparation and strategy to create a test that produces valid results you can rely on to increase your revenue. We’ve gathered some tips to help you produce valid test results every time. This post will focus on the first tip: isolating one variable at a time to show what actually moves the needle. Tip 1: Test one element at a time. If you change too…

Of all the stages of the SaaS commerce lifecycle, new customer acquisition is easily is one of the most critical factors that determine SaaS growth. But in addressing the needs of SaaS customer acquisition, many companies end up wasting precious time, money and resources in the wrong strategies, channels and metrics. The wrong approach is, in fact, responsible for dwindling subscriptions, decreasing recurring revenue and inevitable failure that befall many an unfortunate SaaS company. What exactly is CAC? Customer acquisition is the first step in your funnel and refers to the process of…

Hi sellers! Happy 2015! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season. Take advantage of these trends we have prepared for you and shake up your sales in 2015! The Software-as-a-Service industry is enjoying rapid growth. Here’s everything you need to know to succeed in this business as it expands. Here is a list of the most important SaaS trends we expect to see in 2015. The main focus is on creating more relevant options for enterprises and customers alike. Learn more about customer engagement models and best practices to drive prospects into the sales funnel in an interesting experts…

While every customer is unique in their own way, acquire enough of them and you begin to recognize patterns that can help you get and keep more over the long haul. In our experience, one of the most important patterns you can recognize and learn from is the customer lifecycle. The digital lifecycle, in particular, contains five typical stages that the customer moves through: acquisition, activation, up‐selling and/or cross‐selling, upgrading, and renewal. As the customers progress through each stage, they are presented with a particular experience that will ultimately determine their…

Present day customers are increasingly moving to the virtual world to carry out each and every step of their entire ‘buy’ process. It means digital customer acquisition is a necessary core activity for any business irrespective of its size, industry or end product. Businesses, big and small, understand that an effective presence and active marketing on the Internet is the ideal way to canvas a global audience in an affordable way. They make full use of various virtual tools to attract their target audience. To stay competitive in the marketplace, it is critical for you to have a…

Facebook continued to dominate the social sharing landscape in 2014. But did they gain or lose in overall market share? That’s the question that many of the pundits keep asking, and that’s also the question that the folks at ShareThis set out to answer when they took a deep dive into the sharing statistics for the year off their platform. During the last quarter of the year, Facebook accounted for almost 81% of al content shared in social networks. That translated into an approximate 8% gain in total activity fro the beginning of the year. These numbers are proof that consumers love to…

What are the major elements that contribute to a high performance ecommerce business? Well truth be told there are probably a million of tiny elements. After all retail is detail. The lesson there is that ecommerce is never quite as easy as the blogs (like this one) make it sound. You have to deal with everything from suppliers to shipping logistics to payment processing to marketing. So let’s focus on the part that I know the most (a little bit) about. Marketing. In my humble opinion here are 7 factors that are the key building blocks to a great ecommerce marketing mix. User experience…

What would you say if I told you that one simple marketing tactic could help boost your online sales by nearly 10%? As far as marketing tactics to try, I’d say that’s not too shabby. So what is this mythical marketing tactic? Well it’s not mythical at all, nor is it a secret. It is a marketing tactic that businesses have replied on since the beginning of time – A customer referral program and word of mouth marketing. These days word of mouth and refer a friend marketing is made even more effective online and through social media. Not too long ago consumers were limited to their close…

Starting a blog is easy, but maintaining a blog, not so easy. These days a company blog is one of the most important foundational marketing assets you can create for any business. Ecommerce businesses in particular can benefit tremendously from the SEO and knowledge sharing benefits from blogging. However, as any experienced blogger will tell you, the hardest thing about a blog is keeping it going. Blogging, like many things in life, is exciting at the beginning, but months, or years into the endeavour it can be a challenge to come up with content on a weekly basis. As you can see, I am the…

Let me take you through a simple exercise. Imagine for a moment that we are friends (I know we might actually be friends, if online only, but pretend ☺) What if I were to ask you a question like “Can you help me move this weekend?” Don’t just think about what your answer would be. Think about the thought process that goes through your head for a moment. Good. Remember that feeling. What if I asked you the same thing in a different way and said, “If I pay you $10 will you help me move this weekend?” What did you feel? Different, isn’t it? The logic that your brain processes is…

Okanjo team members were lucky enough to attend Ken Doctor’s keynote session at Mega Conference and we are motivated by his take on the future of local media. A couple of highlights: The entire news industry needs to focus on […]

The other day I read the latest “Reflections of a Newsosaur” post by the great Alan D.Mutter on the topic of “Everyware Computing.” The post discussed the emerging “Internet of Things” and how society is approaching the point where all aspects […]

This month, I was out in NYC during the National Retail Federation show (aka “The Big Show”) at the Javits Center. More than 30,000 people from around the world were there for the latest and greatest in the retail business. What […]

Online marketplaces may seem pedestrian, but we haven’t yet scratched the surface of their functionality, importance or impact on how we shop. It’s not just us at Okanjo who recognize the power and potential of the online marketplace. Earlier this […]

Why should you offer customers the option of PayPal PayPal is one of the most popular ways for customers to purchase online with 143 million active buyers1 looking for PayPal when shopping online. Research shows that over 72% of American’s online have a PayPal account. Online shoppers trust PayPal as a secure way to buy online and... Read more » The post Growing your business with PayPal has never been simpler appeared first on Selz Blog.

Do want an online store but don’t want to spend thousands of dollars to get one? If the answer is yes, why not build your own store using Selz and Store Pro. We’ll show you how to create an eCommerce website in 7 steps, quickly and easily, without any special technical skills or experience. And for only... Read more » The post 7 Steps to creating an eCommerce website with Store Pro appeared first on Selz Blog.

Selz are rolling out features to help support sellers with the upcoming VAT changes when selling to consumers in Europe. In this post I’ll explain exactly what these changes are, and whether they affect you and the products you sell. I’ll also give you some pointers in terms of how you should deal with the... Read more » The post VATMOSS and your business. What can you do? appeared first on Selz Blog.

This time of the year has to be one of the most profitable for selling online. A few days ago Shop.org released its 2014 online holiday sales forecast, expecting sales in November and December to grow between 8 to 11 percent over the last holiday season to as much as $105 billion. It’s also the... Read more » The post Keeping sales primed over the holiday season appeared first on Selz Blog.

Erika Madden has had quite the journey. From dabbling in coding in highschool, through social media management and personal hardships along the way Erika has come out the other end with her shining new business, Olyvia. Olyvia.co is an online hub for predominantly female entrepreneurs to find and share marketing resources and tips, and learn about... Read more » The post Seller Spotlight: Erika Madden appeared first on Selz Blog.

The truth is: a decided customer is a rare phenomenon in the e-commerce world. In most cases, people are sure only about their needs, and slightly know about the way they can be satisfied. There is a fine line between making proper suggestions and trying to sell more at a rate when a customer doesn’t see it as an aggressive tactic. Cross-selling and upselling techniques when used properly can be a delicate thing that works like a charm both for customers and businesses. And here’s the proof: about 35% of Amazon sales could be generated by cross-sales, a 2009 survey carried out by…

Have you bought tickets for Meet Magento Italy? If yes, our congrats; visiting this event will be a wonderful investment of time and effort. Great speeches, great people, great community are waiting for you. What? You haven’t? We should fix this right away. Top reasons you need to jump in Meet Magento Italy event right now: - February 25th is the last day to buy tickets at a standard price (139,00+ VAT instead of 249,00+ VAT). - only 7 days are left before the event takes place! - you’d better hurry, because the organizers are very close to sold out. What will you see at Meet…

For the majority of Internet users social networks like Twitter and Pinterest are purely instruments of communication and sources of information. But these large networks are also offering opportunities for businesses, and today we will look at two features marketers and small business owners can put to good use. Twitter Cards What are Twitter Cards? A Twitter Card is rich content attached to a tweet to show additional information for the link shared. It can contain titles, descriptions, thumbnails, a Twitter account attribution, a featured image or a collection of four pics, product…

February updates have arrived! Here’s what we’ve done to make existing Amasty extensions better. Full Page Cache 1.3.0 Cache Crawler (Warmer) added Full Page Cache Crawler is needed for so-called warming the cache. The pages with a big number of visits take more time and server resources during the first request for cache generation, but all the following requests are performed faster on the second try, because the site displays already generated content, the page cache. LEARN MORE Setting to limit cache size (for database storage only) Support for cookie notification (cookie law)…

Good day to Amasty blog readers! Our support team consists of four managers now, and every day they answer hundreds of questions not only about Amasty extensions, but also on Magento itself. We collected some of the most frequent questions and answered them; we do hope that this small knowledge base will help people that have just started working with Magento. How to make Magento work on a new domain name Change database settings Go to any tool that you use to access your database, go to core_config_data and change the first two fields (web/unsecure/base_url and web/secure/base_url) by…

Make reviewing your mobile optimization strategy a top priority on your plans for this year. Those who are seeking a higher quality rating and want to be on the first page of Google with a high rank need to have a user-friendly, mobile optimized site. Previously, many professionals only considered their mobile sites as an after thought and focused on delivering a solid performance for the desktop visitors. This is no longer the case as mobile quality is now a top factor in ranking according to Google. Mobile quality is specifically important for online retailers and online pure-play companies…

As Zoe Fox says, “Reaching inbox zero is like the Holy Grail of digital lifestyle.” Consumers are inundated daily by an outpouring of newsletters and client requests, local news and flash sales, social notifications and friendly chatter. As an eCommerce business, it can be all too easy to get lost in the crowd; especially when your message is all about you, and not so much about the person you’re selling to. We know that email campaigns remain a highly effective marketing technique when properly executed, despite the rising tide of competition. But what methods of outreach…

Surprise: social media has become an important tool for increasing e-commerce conversion rates. Whether you choose to follow social business practices or not, this is a fact. AddShoppers, a leading social marketing organization, has found that consumers who find products via social media are spending more than those who arrive at sites via other digital routes. How much more, you ask? Well, according to AddShoppers’ latest report, there’s a sizable 8.2% increase in spending. To put a dollar sign on this percentage, consumers who click through to your site from social media…

Despite their uniformly bland brick-and-mortar locations and general tendency to invoke a fury of D.I.Y. ambitions and then consequential self-loathing, The Home Depot’s social media presence is surprisingly delightful. In a Sprinklr study of 18 different big-name retailers, including Kohl’s, Ross and Macy’s, the nation-wide home improvement store was named top of its class for its efforts on a variety of social platforms. The report, which is one segment in Sprinklr’s soon-to-be-released Social@Scale Journal, calculated composite scores for each of the nearly 20 businesses it…

Security is something that traditional media is finally starting to take seriously. From the now infamous Snowden leaks to a major retailer like Target getting their credit card information stolen, to Lenovo and other companies caught installing Superfish, a potentially dangerous form of ad-ware, it seems like a new data breach is the story lead almost every week. For webmasters and eCommerce owners, there’s never been a better time to re-asses how your company handles data privacy. If you don’t, your company might be the next in a security headline, and contrary to what you…

Make reviewing your mobile optimization strategy a top priority on your plans for this year. Those who are seeking a higher quality rating and want to be on the first page of Google with a high rank need to have a user-friendly, mobile optimized site. Previously, many professionals only considered their mobile sites as an after thought and focused on delivering a solid performance for the desktop visitors. This is no longer the case as mobile quality is now a top factor in ranking according to Google. Mobile quality is specifically important for online retailers and online pure-play companies…

As Zoe Fox says, “Reaching inbox zero is like the Holy Grail of digital lifestyle.” Consumers are inundated daily by an outpouring of newsletters and client requests, local news and flash sales, social notifications and friendly chatter. As an eCommerce business, it can be all too easy to get lost in the crowd; especially when your message is all about you, and not so much about the person you’re selling to. We know that email campaigns remain a highly effective marketing technique when properly executed, despite the rising tide of competition. But what methods of outreach…

Surprise: social media has become an important tool for increasing e-commerce conversion rates. Whether you choose to follow social business practices or not, this is a fact. AddShoppers, a leading social marketing organization, has found that consumers who find products via social media are spending more than those who arrive at sites via other digital routes. How much more, you ask? Well, according to AddShoppers’ latest report, there’s a sizable 8.2% increase in spending. To put a dollar sign on this percentage, consumers who click through to your site from social media…

Despite their uniformly bland brick-and-mortar locations and general tendency to invoke a fury of D.I.Y. ambitions and then consequential self-loathing, The Home Depot’s social media presence is surprisingly delightful. In a Sprinklr study of 18 different big-name retailers, including Kohl’s, Ross and Macy’s, the nation-wide home improvement store was named top of its class for its efforts on a variety of social platforms. The report, which is one segment in Sprinklr’s soon-to-be-released Social@Scale Journal, calculated composite scores for each of the nearly 20 businesses it…

Security is something that traditional media is finally starting to take seriously. From the now infamous Snowden leaks to a major retailer like Target getting their credit card information stolen, to Lenovo and other companies caught installing Superfish, a potentially dangerous form of ad-ware, it seems like a new data breach is the story lead almost every week. For webmasters and eCommerce owners, there’s never been a better time to re-asses how your company handles data privacy. If you don’t, your company might be the next in a security headline, and contrary to what you…

We’ve been on a roll lately, running through a whole bunch of referral program examples. Here’s the latest one! Seedrs is a UK-based Equity Crowdfunding platform. Say hello to their landing page: There’s actually a lot to learn from their landing page– it’s beautifully designed, responsive, has strong images, great copywriting and strong social proof. But [...] The post Investor Referral Program Examples – Seedrs, The Equity Crowdfunding Platform appeared first on Customer Acquisition and Referral Marketing blog.

Ernest Dichter was an Austrian-American psychologist and marketing expert in the 1950s. And from what I’ve read, it seems like he was quite a creepy guy. He called his focus groups his “living laboratory”, and lived in a castle of sorts. But he was also a total genius. He coined phrases like ‘put a tiger [...] The post Freedom, Power, Sex & Desire: Word-of-Mouth Wisdom From Ernest Dichter appeared first on Customer Acquisition and Referral Marketing blog.

The third principle from the STEPPS model is Emotion. Emotions help us connect with one another, and inspire us to act. When we come across a story that’s exciting or cool, we want to share it with our friends immediately. But are all emotions equally effective at motivating us to share? Well, not really. Different emotions [...] The post Literally Arousing – 15 Examples of Emotional Marketing appeared first on Customer Acquisition and Referral Marketing blog.

Booker is an all-in-one platform that allows you to run your business from anywhere. Their site is bright, cheery and very easy to understand. I’m particularly a fan of their copywriting, which shines with sincerity: Normally I’d argue that less is more, but in this case the copy– with its lengthy sentences and fragments– feels intimate, not [...] The post B2B Referral Program Examples: Booker, Business Management Software appeared first on Customer Acquisition and Referral Marketing blog.

We always love checking out referral programs “in the wild”– there’s always a lot to study and learn from! Today, let’s look at Carpathia’s referral program, which impressed us with its polished sheen: Carpathia sells large scale, B2B/enterprise cloud solutions. It’s great to hear that they’re having success with their referral program– some B2B marketers make [...] The post Enterprise Referral Program Examples: Carpathia, Cloud Hosting Provider appeared first on Customer Acquisition and Referral Marketing blog.

Of the many online marketing methods available to emarketers today, email marketing has been proven to be amongst the most effective ones without a doubt. If you have been involved with ecommerce selling for any amount of time, you probably know this already. CampaignMonitor is one of the established players in the web-based email marketing application space that I have reviewed in this article and here is my review. Features Contact Manager – a decent contact manager is one of the basic features that an email marketing app should have and CampaignMonitor offers this List Segmentation – a…

Are you sitting around with a sweet new product idea and you want to start selling it online? Have you been selling in a brick-and-mortar shop and now you want to bring your business online? The solution is building an online store, so I want to show you how to start an online shop in just 15 minutes. Over 35 percent of small business websites function to sell via ecommerce mediums, and you can join the club. There are plenty of ecommerce platforms to choose from, but we are going to walk you through the one we like the most, Shopify. Let’s have a look. Step 1: Sign Up for Shopify Go to the…

Check out our new sister site: SHOPPIES, the ecommerce awards offered to the best up-and-coming online shops for excellence in user experience and web design. This is the third installment of the end of the week roundup featuring the best shops, what platforms they’re using, the SHOPPIES grades (for UX, identity & content), and a short description. Hopefully this will inspire you to create your own online shop (or grow it if you already have one) and get your very own SHOPPIES award! Mah Ze Dahr Bakery Platform used: Magento User experience: 4 out of 5 Identity: 4 out of 5 Content: 4…

Have you ever wondered if you’re using the right ecommerce platform for selling online? Do you sometimes stumble upon a new service that’s more functional and cheaper than what you’re using now? Starting a small business is all about keeping your costs low, and finding an ecommerce platform to help you with that is half the battle. Unfortunately, when you run a small business website it often becomes tricky when you want to bring on a new ecommerce platform or even just modify your site at all. Many solutions purposefully create a closed system, which is tedious to move away from once…

The success of your online store depends on quality keyword research. Did you hear that? Have you ever worked on finding the perfect keywords for your ecommerce store? When people make a search through Google they are most likely to choose one of the first ten links on the first page (usually the first or the second!). Are all of your products ranking in the top ten? After you get up and running with a nice ecommerce platform one of the next steps is strategizing your keyword approach, since it’s an essential part of your marketing strategy. Several tools offer options for finding relevant…

M-commerce (a.k.a. mobile commerce) is rapidly overtaking e-commerce as the de facto mode for online transactions. With over 45% of total traffic coming from mobile devices, 33.7% from smartphones, there is little doubt that by the end of 2015 transactions from mobile devices will far eclipse those from desktops. Amazon, the leading e-commerce company has more mobile-only users than Facebook in the U.S.These users visit only on mobile and never see the desktop version of the site. Gartner predicts that the total sales coming from mobile will double by 2017 tantamounting to $98 Billion. With…

It’s a fun time to be in the e-commerce business. Online retail is one of the fastest growing sectors across the world and the rapid growth doesn’t look to slow down anytime soon, mobile commerce is going to make sure of that. Mobile shopping apps are the real star of 2014. Shopping apps use grew faster than any other app category, according to flurry. Sessions in shopping apps on both iOS and Android increased by a whopping 174%. This tells us just how big of a role mobile commerce played this year in the growth of ecommerce as a whole. Mobile has become a formidable channel in the…

Had a so-so holiday season? Don’t fret because Valentine’s Day is right around thecorner. This global celebration of love transpires into one of the biggestshopping seasons around the world and rakes in more moolah than Halloween, St.Patrick’s Day and the Super Bowl put together. Needless to say, merchants focused on gift-giving catalogs are making a mad rush to be ready for this shopping spike. According to Business Insider, 53% of women would dump their boyfriends if they don’t get a gift on Valentine’s Day. More than 9 million pet owners will buy gifts for their pets. 11%…

As early reports start to trickle in about the 2014 holiday season, retailers are waiting with bated breath to see how they fared compared to other offline and online merchants. These reports will probably also signal the way 2015 is going to shape up. While retailers will soon be caught up in a mire of statistics, metrics and benchmarks, one question that is looming large in their minds already is “Which channels worked best this holiday season”. Amazon announced that nearly 60% of their customers shopped from a mobile device this holiday season. Wait, what?! Yes, Amazon sold more stuff…

The wishlist feature is a simple yet powerful tool that allows customers to create a list of items that they “wish for”. They won’t necessarily buy all the products in the wishlist, but they certainly have a much higher likelihood of buying some of them. Wishlists also help retailers understand trends in customer interest so they can build future campaigns and stock inventory based on this data. How wishlists help shoppers 1. Window shopping: The wishlist feature works for your e-commerce site in several ways – it allows visitors to window-shop with consequence – increasing the…

How You Can Become a Survey Taker and Get Paid at Home in your free time? Hey everyone! Did you know that you can become a survey taker for Top Brand Companies and get paid to give your opinion? Yep, you can and all for free! I've been giving surveys for money for the past 7 years and love doing it! I get about 4 to 5 test a month which has added up. Sometimes it is $1 sometimes as much as $20. Also, some companies do giveaways and sweepstakes for product testing and I get the first exclusive look at up and coming products.The reason for product testing is that Top Brands would…

Valentine’s Day is a day for treats as well as expressions of love. Kids like to get more of the sweets and this is one day they can enjoy delicious creations. Here are some ideas for making cookies and cupcakes that ooze with love and fresh baked goodness. Let’s start with the cookies. For kids, baking is fun. It is a way for them to help out in the kitchen and learn love cooking. The freezer section of the grocery store has several flavors of cookies. Rolled dough is good to use and eliminates cleanup hassles after the cookies are made. Take a roll of refrigerated dough and roll it out…

Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14th every year. It is a day to display affection, friendship, and love. Individuals send cards, called valentines, to their companions, family, and loved ones. Verses on valentines regularly rhyme and express love and affection. Some of the time valentines contain amusing pictures or quips - but nearly all ask, "Be My Valentine." Valentine's Day falls on the feast day of two distinctive Christian saints named Valentine. The traditions of Valentine's Day has nothing to do with the lives of the saints. It is widely accepted that the traditions…

America’s sweethearts and suitors will spend more than $1.9 billion on flowers this Valentine’s Day, as per a yearly review by the National Retail Federation. Online flower retailers compete for the holiday windfall with daily deals on every day arrangements and sales on no-brainer bundles that include sweets and teddy bears. In a recent comparison of the major players promising cheap flower delivery, FTD.com scored some of the highest reviews, but what if you don't know what to buy or what is popular? The estimated number of roses produced for Valentine's Day in 2014 was a whopping…

Easy Christmas Candy Recipes Even if you are not a big candy eater, Christmas candy recipes are really welcomed during the holidays. No matter how much we vow to eat healthy during the holidays, no matter how much we may swear off sweets, there is something quite wonderful about having at least a little bit of delicious Christmas candy now and then. It’s not all year after all. I love making just a few of my favorite Christmas candy recipes at the beginning of the season. It is a busy time of year, so it is always best to use quick and easy candy recipes and make them when you have a few…

Ecommerce retailers would often notice that not all their customers are created equal; some provide more revenue as compared to others. Identifying these customers is critical for any business, in order to optimize customer acquisition costs & maximize profits. At Unbxd, we’ve recently come across a startling site search trend – that nearly 50% of the 20 million daily search queries we serve come from repeat visitors. Not only are these ‘qualified leads’ for ecommerce sites but might actually convert with little or zero acquisition costs. Basically, these users are the most…

A decade ago, retailers believed that people wouldn’t buy fashion products online as they want to experience the touch and feel of products before making a purchase. But ecommerce has changed the way people shop and more and more people are getting comfortable with shopping for fashion online. According to an Emarketer report, online sales of clothing and accessories will continue to grow year over year at a rate faster than even the electronics and books segment, with sales reaching $73 billion by 2016. This opened up a whole new world of opportunities for fashion retailers and there has…

At Unbxd, we’ve been fortunate to work with some of the most innovative companies and help them overcome their business challenges with our personalized solutions. This edition of our Customer Spotlight series highlights thekewlshop.com, an online store that offers trendy women’s fashion apparels. The Kewl Shop started in 2013 and has quickly grown to become one of the top 150K websites in the world. It is founded by Charles and his business partner Sasi with an objective to provide quality women’s clothes at value for money prices. Charles, the founder of The Kewl Shop says,…

Black Friday & Cyber Monday are the two biggest shopping days in the United States. With the manic shopping days just behind us, it’s now time to see how the industry grew over the course of a year and look at some of the emerging trends. As we’re now coming to see, online sales this time around have surpassed all previous records to make Cyber Monday the biggest online spending day in the US history. According to a comScore press release, “Cyber Monday Exceeded $2 Billion in Desktop Sales for First Time Ever to Rank as Heaviest U.S. Online Spending Day in History”. In this post,…

At Unbxd, we’ve had the pleasure of partnering with some of the most innovative customers to offer solutions for various types of business challenges. Today, our customer spotlight highlights Puravidabracelets.com, an online store offering authentic hand-crafted bracelets made by artisans in Costa Rica. Puravidabracelets.com was founded by Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman, who started the business to inspire change by showing their team of artisans an opportunity they never knew existed. Their team is composed of young, conscience-minded individuals looking to make the world a better place.

You wouldn’t think of launching your startup without an accompanying social media presence, but for most small teams or solopreneurs, the demands of bringing a new product or service to market don’t leave many hours in the day for Facebook posts (or, for that matter, sleep). And unless you’re developing a cloning device, bringing on an extra pair of hands to manage your social media marketing may be a few funding rounds away. So what can you do, right now, to get started? Create a Social Media Plan “But wait,” you say. “Planning isn’t getting started. That’s why they call it…

You’ve probably heard that things change quickly on internet. You know where else things change quickly? The business world. Now, if you’re a business operating primarily online – look out! Stuff is changing at Mach 10. Oh, you’re a startup online business?! Well, it’s kind of like this for you then: If you’re a stressed out, over-worked entrepreneur trying to get your company off the ground, what do you do? Unfortunately, too many entrepreneurs choose to put marketing on the backburner while they focus on developing their product or service. This is a…

We are t-minus 8 days away from Valentine’s Day, and marketers everywhere are trying to figure out the best way to take advantage of this highly commercialized holiday. February 14th is a huge day for online marketers pushing cards, flowers, candy, and jewelry, where competition is fierce and advertising spend starts to soar. So what are some good ways to grab a piece of the Valentine’s Day pie? Is this purely a holiday for romantically inclined industries, or can others cash in too by planning ahead and getting creative? Below we’ve outlined a handful of simple yet…

Last May, Andrew Delamarter of Huge wrote a great article on Search Engine Watch about getting the most out of your search engine marketing agency. In his article, Delamarter emphasized a few key points that I know many agencies and SEM contractors struggle to communicate effectively with their clients. Some of my favorite were: Workload – Delamarter explains that with small-scale PPC campaigns, “The headaches are the same, but the budgets are tiny.” If you are an SMB with a relatively small budget, you may feel that you should pay a search marketing agency less to manage…

There are a TON of helpful articles out there that warn startup companies of common online marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. As a startup company ourselves, we appreciate how difficult it can be to keep on top of all the important elements that go into building a successful business. This is especially true for smaller, self-funded outfits that often lack the time, money, and/or resources of larger, VC-backed startups. As the saying goes, however, anything worth doing is worth doing right. If you’re going to pour blood, sweat, tears, and money into your startup, how you market…

Pop-up shops have been in business for quite some time, even before the invention of ecommerce. But when we look at the idea and the benefits, it looks like a match made in heaven. Pop-up stores are temporary retail outlets that are set up for a day, a couple of days, some weeks, or months for that matter. Mostly used for seasonal sales like Halloween, Christmas gifts, or Fireworks, this retail model is now being used increasingly by ecommerce stores and smart start-ups. For online stores, it comes with a bundle of benefits. No wonder we are seeing many online businesses giving it a shot.

Visual information is contagious. By nature, customers are visual and they’re attracted to visual information more than plain texts. According to Heidi Cohen, “60% of consumers are motivated to contact a business that uses images on their local search results.” Visual pointers like pictures, infographics, videos, memes, product images etc. will appeal emotionally to your customers. But you have to use them correctly. How? As a retail business owner, one of the core challenges you have is improving your customer’s engagement, right? It can be difficult, especially when you’re new to…

In the previous posts, we have talked much about the importance of following up, getting into conversations, and building strong relationships with your customers that go beyond one time purchases. All of these interactions, follow-ups, and relationship building efforts ensure that your business will stay on top of their minds. Investing time on your existing customers can yield much better returns as compared to the time and efforts required for acquiring a new one. But you need to be smart about these interactions, because you don’t want to come across as a desperate salesman, who won’t…

So you want to become a productive retailer? Productivity is the practice of getting more done, with less time and resources. When you realize that your customers are the #1 asset of your retail business, you’ll spend adequate time listening to them, answering their questions, and optimizing their experience. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, “In the Q3 of 2014, business productivity increased 2.3%, and unit labor cost decreased by 5.4%. Depending on your industry, these stats could have a positive or negative effect in your business. But since change is the only constant factor in…

If we were to make a list of most common reasons for customers not shopping online, we’ll end up with the following list of negatives that customers associate with online shopping: Fear of Credit Card Information/Identify Theft I can’t touch or feel the product The website will sell my Data or Personal Information I can’t purchase without talking to a salesperson What happens if I don’t like the product I can’t find the product I was looking for And if we really have to narrow it down to just one basic reason, it will be that customers aren’t comfortable while shopping online.

In the conversion rate optimization process, AB Testing and Multivariate Testing are basic methods to improve the performance of websites. But, do you know when to use AB Testing or MVT? In this article, we’ll break down this topic, and compare these two methods so that you can see which one best fits the needs ... The post AB Testing vs. Multivariate Testing: Which One Works Better? appeared first on Marketizator Conversion Rate Optimization Blog. Related posts: Multivariate Testing: does it fit you? Multivariate Testing: How to make it work? AB testing optimization best practices

A/B and MVT tests are a great way to find out what works, but sometimes it is difficult to find the best place to start testing! Here are my top test pages that nearly every industry should test. 1. Search Results Pages The search results page is one of the best opportunity pages on your site! ... The post Top Places To Start A/B Testing appeared first on Marketizator Conversion Rate Optimization Blog. Related posts: A/B testing guide Has Personalization Replaced A/B Testing? The dirtiest secrets of A/B testing

Each day of the regular man consists of eight hours of work and another four ones spent on doing various activities. In these twelve hours spent outside the intimacy of the home, men usually receive three types of inputs: material goods, skills and time. Now, how it would be to receive only one of them ... The post The Relation between Time Urgency and Conversion Rate appeared first on Marketizator Conversion Rate Optimization Blog. Related posts: The impact of Customer Satisfaction Index on Conversion Rate The Uses of Click Through Rate (CTR) in Measuring Funnel Conversion Rate 99 Ideas To…

The product page is your last chance to wow your customer before they make the decision to buy an individual product. If your product page doesn’t showcase the actual product, hone in on product details, or have a crystal clear call to action (CTA) your conversion rates will be abysmal. If you are looking to revamp ... The post 3 Elements To Test On Your E-commerce Product Page appeared first on Marketizator Conversion Rate Optimization Blog. Related posts: E-commerce Product Page Optimization [Infographic] How to optimize your product page 4 things you can do to improve the product…

Implementing an outstanding site search tool is one important step in increasing conversion rate. Sometimes it’s a neglected part of the conversion process even though online searching is the beginning of the customer journey. For the visitors that already know what they want to buy, the search bar is the easiest and fastest way to ... The post Smart CRO Techniques You Haven’t Used Before: Site Search appeared first on Marketizator Conversion Rate Optimization Blog. Related posts: Smart CRO Techniques You Haven’t Used Before: Micro-conversions Going international. How to adapt…

Trust is a big deal in eCommerce.When you think about it, your customers are essentially handing over their hard-earned pennies on a wish and a promise, hoping that you’ll deliver like you say you will. They’re not going to reach for their wallets unless they trust you – but you’re a faceless stranger on the other side of a computer, how are you going to make them do that? The answer is simple: Trust signals. “Of course!” you might be thinking. “Now if you could just point me in the direction of some of those I’ll be on my way…” Woah there cowboy! It’s not that simple.

We live and breathe ecommerce at TheGenieLab, and we like to keep on top of our game. We decided to predict 5 innovative design trends for 2015 then, when we finished watching Jools and his Hootenanny, we got straight back to work and decided to ask a few industry experts one simple question: "What's the biggest trend you're predicting will take off in the eCommerce world in 2015?" We had lots of responses from top influencers, and they gave us some pretty outstanding answers. So great, in fact, we thought it would be selfish to keep them to ourselves. So we didn't. Take a look at what the…

The internet can be a pretty daunting place. Your customers need to know they can trust you before they reach for their wallets, and this can be a difficult business in eCommerce. You haven’t got that face-to-face contact that works in traditional stores, and, unfortunately, your customers are only too aware that there’s plenty of people out there waiting to take them for a ride. Knowing how to build trust on your website is essential in getting your customers to part with their cash – so take a look at our tips and give your conversions a kick in the right direction. Give Your Contact…

API development is one of the best things about the internet – connecting sites together and generally making web design more convenient and more impressive. Here are 5 websites that wouldn’t be where they are today without innovative API development. Netflix Netflix’s approach to APIs has been a major part of its success in the online streaming market. Years back, the streaming service allowed its data to be shared on an open API for developers across the world to experiment with. As a result, many of the algorithms that users now take for granted were born – including aspects of the…

Good traffic but poor conversions? Abandoned shopping carts left, right, and centre? Frustrating isn’t it. Your SEO is turning up trumps and you’ve got your PPC ducks all in a row, but no matter how many people you get ‘walking’ through your doors, you’re just not getting the ROI you were hoping for. Don’t beat yourself up – it happens to everyone (seriously, check out these stats). So, apart from those simply researching with no intent to purchase (which accounts for 16% of abandoned carts according to a recent survey by VWO), what stops your visitors reaching for their…

We have added 3 new features to the Shopsy (Etsy clone script). Cash on delivery, Footer widgets to manage your footer links and PayPal like dispute / claim management system. Shopsy multi-vendor marketplace is one of the feature rich products from eCommercemix with lots of customizable options for a marketplace owner to start a vibrant community marketplace like Etsy.com – Go ahead and learn how it works. Also all other features in Shopsy explained here – Link. Footer Widgets To manage your footer content and links – we have provided options in the admin settings under…

This PayPal like Dispute management system provides a handy place to post customer service messages to all your buyers like “shipping delayed due to bad weather etc.” Also if the buyer wants to file a complaint against the seller and his products, he can open a dispute against the product and the function operates similar to PayPal dispute management process. This Dispute management system perfectly works with our Multi-vendor marketplace software. You can go ahead and purchase the addon here. Even if you have other multi-vendor marketplace script, we can integrate this module…

If you look into Middle east countries and India – Cash on delivery plays a vital role in eCommerce marketplace. Around 45% of people prefer to pay Cash on delivery. Our cash on delivery module allows you to offer COD payment in your eCommerce multi-vendor marketplace. Once the Cash on delivery mode is activated – the sellers can have an option to allow / disallow COD for their stores. This module works in perfect sync with our Multi-vendor marketplace software. Under the admin settings > where you find options to change the logo, favicon etc > below that you can find the option…

1. Admire – Admire is a social marketplace. It has all the in-built features like theme customization, layout customization, comes with mobile apps for consumers and sellers both. It is a flag ship marketplace and I would suggest this if you’re going to start a marketplace business and social is the next big thing – so it has got both. The major difference is Social elements in Admire – Admire has lot of viral social elements that brings lot of traffic to your site through social platform. For example – People can use the marketplace as Pinterest + ECommerce…

Cubitts is a modern British spectacles and sunglasses company from King’s Cross, London. They offer a range of handmade frames, both optical and sunglasses, each of which goes through fifty crafted stages over the course of six weeks. Each of the frames is named after a street in and around King’s Cross. The Cubitts logo and custom pins are inspired by the wrought-iron “butterfly” rivets found outside Lewis Cubitt’s Granary building (now home to the famous Central St Martins College of Art and Design). Visit Cubitts’ flagship Workshop in Carnaby’s Newburgh…

Porducts are always cool especially when they are made to save lives. One of them is this sanitising door handle created by AltitudeMedical. The PullClean door handle is designed to provide sanitiser exactly when it is needed – as hospital workers and staff enter an environment in which patients are at risk. The door handle reminds staff to sanitize as they enter a room and provides them the means to do so. Then, the CountClean software monitors rates of hand sanitisation, how much sanitiser is remaining in the handle, and when the cartridge should next be changed. So what’s special…

Misfit is a company that designs wearable porducts. It’s most popular porduct Shine, is an activity and sleep monitor that tracks user movements and activity levels to provide information on metrics including step count, calories burned, distance traveled, and number of hours of light and deep sleep via an app. Misfit announced this week that Flash and Shine trackers will work with platforms such as Spotify, Nest, Logitech Harmony, Yo, automation service IFTTT and the August smart lock. That means you’ll be able to press the big button several times to work with one of those…

So you have found the porduct, you have a shiny new website and your payment gateway is up and running. Now what? where do you start from? who do you sell to? how? Have a look at this beautifully designed infographic and start chasing your very first eCommerce sale ! infographic by shopify The post How to make your first eCommerce sale – infographic appeared first on porduct.

Memoto Narrative first appeared as a 2012 Kickstarter project with the following description: “A tiny, automatic camera and app that gives you a searchable and shareable photographic memory.” But since then, the Swedish company has added some more features on the wearable camera which now allows hands free image capture (takes 2 photos / minute), image quality is 8 megapixels and battery life is around 30 hours. What’s special about this porduct? Automatic photo capture lets you stay in the moment while capturing it (pretty cool) Keep your mind and hands free when it…

How we lost $10k with an online business idea nobody wanted It was September of 2011. We were a little demoralized. We had just realized that our plans to rapidly spread our new real estate form software for agents was foiled. We had rolled out in about 5 states but were seeing why expansion was a little tricky. Unfortunately the forms that we needed for each state are often owned and copyrighted. They are controlled by the Realtor Associations and licensed often at a hefty fee. In itself this wasn’t a problem. We were willing to pay the licensing fees to the…

I’ll never forget one of the first lessons I learned in college. As an Economics major I learned, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” It was one of my introductory Econ classes that started at 8 in the morning. I used to struggle to climb out of bed and walk across the frozen tundra of campus. Shocker that an enthralling Economics lesson at 8 am wasn’t much of a draw. But this is one lesson that I remembered. The premise is that everything has a cost to it. The cost of certain items may not be dollars or currency as you imagine. There…

Thinking about writing an eBook? Here is how I wrote one in 24 Hours It was 3:20 AM. I was tossing and turning. I had been up for 20 minutes already but hadn’t wanted to open my eyes. I have this weird theory about keeping your eyes closed in the middle of the night. I think its easier to get back to bed if you never actually open your eyes. Besides being easier, you don’t become fixated on the clock. Unfortunately on this night I made the mistake of opening my eyes. It’s now 3:36AM and all I can think about is trying to fall back to sleep. My mind was racing…

Our Business Logo Design Hits & Misses We have been doing this for a long time and have had some terrible logos and we have had some great logos. From building our successful online businesses, I know your business logo design has little impact on the bottom line. Before you get too crazy, let me explain. I love design and I can appreciate design. I collect art (nothing fancy) and enjoy beautiful things. I appreciate the difference between what looks good and what doesn’t. I also know that even though you are taught not to judge a book by its cover, people do. Your…

How We Realized the Benefits of SaaS We currently own and operate half a dozen SaaS businesses. For those of you who don’t know what that is. A SaaS is a software as a service business. The idea is that instead of paying a one time fee to buy software and install it on your computer, you pay a monthly fee. The software is web based and you essentially pay a subscription fee to use the software. The information is stored remotely and accessible from anywhere you have internet access. The benefits of SaaS are endless and we will look at what we love about them. With the increases in…

You’ve got your online store up and running. You’ve got a great product. You’ve got a great website. All you need is for those first few sales to start rolling in. But somehow, despite all the emails you sent out and the links on social media, visitors are few and far in between. Transactions, more so. You’re looking for the best way to market your online store. Pay-per-click marketing can be a valuable channel for new stores to turn on the faucet. It’s a great way to get qualified traffic from high-intent buyers. Of course, you’ve heard the horror stories. Thousands of…

For a country that’s hooked onto cricket, it is only natural, that even the ads the country witnesses will cash in on the Cricket World Cup Fever. In the run up to the World Cup, several advertisers began to send out messages that attempted a play on the seasonal flavor of the incoming World Cup. Who’s Doing It? eCommerce players are the ones who are heavily banking on this opportunity. Large scale Marketplaces promoted everything from an Airfryer, to a Couch and also a TV with a strong World Cup tone attached to it. It’s not just the…

Earlier this week Facebook announced the launch of its Product Ads, a solution that helps marketers promote multiple products or their entire catalog to customers who are actually interested in them. Product Ads helps Facebook discover more relevant products for the right audience on a scale across devices. Facebook has not just provided a new avenue for a product ad solution, but changed the rules of the game by making product discovery relevant based on user interests and activity. Conventional ad process involved designing individual campaigns for specific products targeted to specific…

Sokrati has done it again! We are more than happy to announce that Google has honored us with awards in two categories at its prestigious Google India PSP Awards 2015. Out of the eighteen partner contenders, we were awarded two out of six awards in different categories. This is our second year in a row of receiving the ‘Best Quality Accounts Award’. This award is given for having the highest average Google Adwords Quality Score which means we are consistently delivering quality ads since two years. We are also happy to win the ‘Largest Increase in Absolute Revenue Award’. The year…

Sokrati Local provides digital marketing to over 500 restaurants all over India – driving awareness, customers & revenues on a daily basis. Leveraging its data-driven platform, we’ve identified interesting patterns in the food & restaurant category. Its fascinating to see dynamic transformation in lifestyle patterns of the urban population around the food habits, demand for different types of cuisines. Interestingly enough, the research also draws insights on cuisines preferred around different days of the week. Read the whole case and be amazed like we were. The Eat…